Chapter 31
For one instant we all three stood facing each other,—I breathless and mad with fury,—Lucio calm and disdainful,— my wife staggering back from me, half-swooning with fear. In an access of black rage, I rushed upon her and seized her in my arms.
"I have heard you !" I said, "I have seen you! I have watched you kneel before my true friend, my loyal comrade there, and try your best to make him as vile as yourself! I am that poor fool, your husband,—that blind egoist whose confidence you sought to win—and to betray! I am the unhappy wretch whose surplus of world's cash has bought for him in marriage a shameless courtesan! You dare to talk of love? You profane its very name! Good God !—what are such women as you made of? You throw yourselves into our arms,—you demand our care—you e
