Page:The woman, the man, and the monster (IA womanmanmonster00dawe).pdf/265

 in unrestraint. There are men of her type, and they end either in prison or a madhouse.”

“Where you would be now but for your money,” she said.

“It is inevitable that some of us should be cursed by destiny,” he continued, totally ignoring her remark. “When I married this woman two years ago, in Rome, I had just returned from an extended wandering in Asia, and I frankly confess she fascinated me. She was a public singer in Rome, of some local reputation, I believe. Of the singularity of that reputation I knew nothing then, though I have learnt much since. It was, unfortunately, too late to retrieve the error, but not too late to attempt the guardianship of my own honour. Perhaps you are able fully to appreciate the result of that guardianship?”

The voice was level, cold, and inexpressibly contemptuous. Had he been speaking of some unclean crawling creature he could not have voiced his disdain with a more complete, impersonal indifference. As he listened Vermont grew hot and cold by turns. Refutation bubbled to his lips only to die away in impotent breathings.