FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158  
159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   >>   >|  
ith a bound he had the other by the shoulders--and then, somehow, he found himself laughing--not merrily--laughing in a sort of contemptuous rage. He could take Paul Valmain with his own great strength and do with him what he pleased. But that was not the way a blow such as he had received was to be answered! And, anyway, what was the matter with the man? He must have lost his senses! "You--hound!"--Paul Valmain was repeating hoarsely, his lips twitching in his passion. "I watched last night outside your studio. I watched, and oh, God!--I saw her enter." Jean's hands dropped from the man's shoulders in blank amazement. Yes, certainly, the man was either drunk or mad! Certainly, he was not responsible for what he was saying. "There was no one who entered my studio last night," he said almost pityingly. "You liar!"--Paul Valmain was like a man beside himself, demented. "You liar--you liar--you liar! I saw her! I know now who this secret model is whose divine form you desecrate, you black-souled libertine! I saw her go in at two o'clock in the morning--_and at daylight she had not come out again_." Jean shrugged his shoulders intolerantly. The man was quite out of his head from some cause or other, but that was no reason why he should be called upon to endure the other's irresponsible ranting. "You poor fool!" he exclaimed irritably. "So you know who it is, do you? And what then? If it brings you such poignant, personal grief, why did you let her go in? Why did you not tell her that--" "It was too late"--white to the lips, Paul Valmain raised his clenched fists--"it was too late--after months of it! I could save her only one thing--the knowledge that I knew her shame. I was across the street--I saw her--God pity me--I loved her--the black cloak and hat she wore only a few days before when we were together! I have lived in hell and torment and fear that it might be so since that afternoon--that afternoon--did you think I did not see the key in your hand, and--" "What do you mean?"--there was a sudden blackness curiously streaked with red before Jean's eyes; the blood was sweeping in a mad tide upward in his face to pound like trip-hammers at his temples--the man's words could bear only one interpretation, a hideous one, that outraged his soul, and roused a seething fury within him. "What do you mean?" he said again between his teeth. "I mean," Paul Valmain answered, "I mean--damn you,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158  
159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Valmain
 

shoulders

 

watched

 
studio
 

afternoon

 

answered

 

laughing

 

street

 

brings

 

poignant


personal

 
raised
 

knowledge

 
months
 
clenched
 

temples

 

interpretation

 

hammers

 

upward

 

hideous


outraged

 

roused

 

seething

 

sweeping

 

streaked

 
curiously
 

sudden

 

blackness

 

torment

 

entered


Certainly

 

responsible

 
strength
 

demented

 

pityingly

 

pleased

 

received

 

senses

 

twitching

 

hoarsely


repeating
 
matter
 

amazement

 

dropped

 

secret

 
reason
 

called

 
exclaimed
 
irritably
 

passion