rl I did see a soul! A woman
when she is married, she is part of ze man; but a soul, it is for ever
alone, apart, confounded wiz nobody! For it I followed Sandra, your
countess. It was a sublime devotion of a dog. Her voice tsrilled, her
soul possessed me, Your countess is my Sandra still. I shall be pleased
if child-bearing trouble her not more zan a very little; but, enfin! she
is married, and you and I, my friend Wilfrid, we must accept ze decree,
and say, no harm to her out of ze way of nature, by Saint Nicolas! or
any what saint you choose for your invocation. Come along. And speed my
letters by one of your militaires at once off. Are Pericles' millions
gold of bad mint? If so, he is an incapable. He presumes it is not so.
Come along; we will drink to her in essence of Tokay. You shall witness
two scenes. Away!"

Wilfrid was barely to be roused from his fit of brooding into which
Pericles had thrown him. He sent the letters, and begged to be left to
sleep. The image of Vittoria seen through this man's mind was new, and
brought a new round of torments. "The devil take you," he cried when
Pericles plucked at his arm, "I've sent the letters; isn't that enough?"
He was bitterly jealous of the Greek's philosophic review of the
conditions of Vittoria's marriage; for when he had come away from the
concert, not a thought of her being a wife had clouded his resignation
to the fact. He went with Pericles, nevertheless, and was compelled to
acknowledge the kindling powers of the essence of Tokay. "Where do you
get this stuff?" he asked several times. Pericles chattered of England,
and Hagar's 'Addio,' and 'Camilla.' What cabinet operas would he not
give! What entertainments! Could an emperor offer such festivities to
his subjects? Was a Field Review equal to Vittoria's voice? He stung
Wilfrid's ears by insisting on the mellowed depth, the soft human
warmth, which marriage had lent to the voice. At a late hour his valet
announced Countess d'Isorella. "Did I not say so?" cried Pericles, and
corrected himself: "No, I did not say so; it was a surprise to you, my
friend. You shall see; you shall hear. Now you shall see what a friend
Pericles can be when a person satisfy him." He pushed Wilfrid into his
dressing-room, and immediately received the countess with an outburst
of brutal invectives--pulling her up and down the ranked regiment of
her misdeeds, as it were. She tried dignity, tried anger, she affected
amazement, she petitio