The Observations of HenryJerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
General
The Observations of Henry
Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
"'No, and that's why I feel hard toward him,' answers she.
"'Now you listen to me,' says I. 'This is a very pretty comedy, and the
way you've played it does you credit up till now. Don't you run it on
too long, and turn it into a problem play.'
"'How d'ye mean?' says she.
"'A man's a man,' says I; 'anyhow he's one. He fell in love with you six
years ago when you were only a child, and now you're a woman he's fallen
in love with you again. If that don't convince you of his constancy,
nothing will. You stop there. Don't you try to find out any more.'
"'I mean to find out one thing, answers she: 'whether he's a man--or a
cad.'
"'That's a severe remark,' says I, 'to make about your own husband.'
"'What am I to think?' says she. 'He fooled me into loving him when, as
you say, I was only a child. Do you think I haven't suffered all these
years? It's the girl that cries her eyes out for her lover; we learn to
take 'em for what they're worth later on.'
"'But he's in love with you still,' I says. I knew what was in her mind,
but I wanted to lead her away from it if I could.
"'That's a lie,' says she, 'and you know it.' She wasn't choosing her
words; she was feeling, if you understand. 'He's in love with a pretty
waitress that he met for the first time a fortnight ago.'
"'That's because she reminds him of you,' I replied, 'or because you
remind him of her, whichever you prefer. It shows you're the sort of
woman he'll always be falling in love with.'
"She laughed at that, but the next moment she was serious again. 'A
man's got to fall out of love before he falls into it again,' she
replied. 'I want a man that'll stop there. Besides,' she goes on, 'a
woman isn't always young and pretty: we've got to remember that. We want
something else in a husband besides eyes.'
"'You seem to know a lot about it,' says I.
"'I've thought a lot about it,' says she.
"'What sort of husband do you want?' says I.
"'I want a man of honour,' says she.
"That was sense. One don't often find a girl her age talking it, but her
life had made her older than she looked. All I could find to say was
that he appeared to be an honest chap, and maybe was one.
"'Maybe,' says she; 'that's what I mean to find out. And if you'll do me
a kindness,' she adds, 'you won't mind calling me Marie Luthier for the
future, instead of Godselle. It was my mother's name, and I've a fancy
for it.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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