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had gone mad about Alma. I do not mean that he loved her, as poor Curly did, well enough to marry her ; nor as De Vigne, who would have thrown everything away to win her ; but he was wild about her, as very heartless men, chères demoiselles, can be wild about a woman who has bewitched them. He was first of all fascinated by her, then he was piqued by the wish to rival De Vigne, whom he disliked for some sharp sayings thrown carelessly at him; then, he was incensed by Alma's contemptuous treatment of him ; and at last he swore to go there no more, to be treated de haut en bas by 'that bewitching little syren,' but to win her by fraud or force.