Damaged Goods: The great play "Les avariés" by Brieux, novelized with the approval of the authorSinclair, Upton
General
Damaged Goods: The great play "Les avariés" by Brieux, novelized with the approval of the author
Sinclair, Upton
Sexually transmitted diseases -- Fiction
You would think he must have been the happiest man in the whole city
of Paris. But George, alas, had to pay the penalty for his early sins.
There was, for instance, the deception he had practiced upon his friend,
away back in the early days. Now he had friends of his own, and he could
not keep these friends from visiting him; and so he was unquiet with the
fear that some one of them might play upon him the same vile trick. Even
in the midst of his radiant happiness, when he knew that Henriette was
hanging upon his every word, trembling with delight when she heard his
latchkey in the door--still he could not drive away the horrible thought
that perhaps all this might be deception.
There was his friend, Gustave, for example. He had been a friend of
Henriette’s before her marriage; he had even been in love with her at
one time. And now he came sometimes to the house--once or twice when
George was away! What did that mean? George wondered. He brooded over
it all day, but dared not drop any hint to Henriette. But he took to
setting little traps to catch her; for instance, he would call her up on
the telephone, disguising his voice. “Hello! Hello! Is that you, Madame
Dupont?” And when she answered, “It is I, sir,” all unsuspecting, he
would inquire, “Is George there?”
“No, sir,” she replied. “Who is this speaking?”
He answered, “It is I, Gustave. How are you this morning?” He wanted to
see what she would answer. Would she perhaps say, “Very well, Gustave.
How are you?”--in a tone which would betray too great intimacy!
But Henriette was a sharp young person. The tone did not sound like
Gustave’s. She asked in bewilderment, “What?” and then again, “What?”
So, at last, George, afraid that his trick might be suspected, had to
burst out laughing, and turn it into a joke. But when he came home and
teased his wife about it, the laugh was not all on his side. Henriette
had guessed the real meaning of his joke! She did not really mind--she
took his jealousy as a sign of love, and was pleased with it. It is
not until a third party come upon the scene that jealousy begins to be
annoying.
So she had a merry time teasing George. “You are a great fellow!
You have no idea how well I understand you--and after only a year of
marriage!”
“You know me?” said the husband, curiously. (It is always so fascinating
when anybody thinks she know us better than we know ourselves!) “Tell
me, what do you think about me?”
“You are restless,” said Henriette. “You are suspicious. You pass your
time putting flies in your milk, and inventing wise schemes to get them
out.”
“Oh, you think that, do you?” said George, pleased to be talked about.
“I am not annoyed,” she answered. “You have always been that way--and I
know that it’s because at bottom you are timid and disposed to suffer.
And then, too, perhaps you have reasons for not having confidence in a
wife’s intimate friends--lady-killer that you are!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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