In short and hissing phrases, and mimicking their manners, I related the entire scene between Madame and Monsieur. William, very calm and indifferent, shrugged his shoulders.
"It is too stupid, indeed!" said he. "One should not be as stupid as that!"
"And that is all you find to say to me?"
"What else do you expect me to say to you? I say that it is stupid. There is nothing else to say."
"And you? What are you going to do?"
He looked at me obliquely. There was a sneer on his lips. Ah! how ugly was his look, in that moment of distress; how ugly and hideous was his mouth!
"I?" said he, pretending not to understand that, in this question, there were prayers for him.
"Yes, you. I asked you what you were going to do."
"Nothing. I have nothing to do. I am going to continue. Why, you are crazy, my girl. You do not expect" . . .
I burst out:
"You are going to have the courage to remain in a house from which I am driven out?"
He rose, relighted his cigarette, and said, icily:
"Oh! no scene, you know. I am not your husband. You have seen fit to commit a stupidity.
