Comedy of Marriage and Other Tales. Guy de Maupassant
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no, it is too late, and I do not care to accept sacrifices.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
There is no more any question of sacrifice. To fly with you is my most ardent desire.
MME. DE SALLUS [astonished]
You are mad.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Well, suppose I am mad. That is only natural, since I love you.
MME. DE SALLUS
What do you mean?
JACQUES DE RANDOL
I mean what I say. I love you; I have nothing else to say. Let us fly.
MME. DE SALLUS
Ah, you were altogether too cautious just now to become so brave all at once.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Will you ever understand me? Listen to me. When I first realized that I adored you, I made a solemn vow concerning what might happen between you and me. The man who falls in love with a woman such as you, a woman married yet deserted; a slave in fact yet morally free, institutes between her and himself a bond which only she can break. The woman risks everything. Ay, it is just because she does this, because she gives everything—her heart, her body, her soul, her honor, her life, because she has foreseen all the miseries, all the dangers, all the misfortunes that can happen, because she dares to take so bold, and fearless a step, and because she is ready and determined to hazard everything—a husband who could kill her, and a world that would scorn her—it is for all this and for the heroism of her conjugal infidelity, that her lover, in taking her, ought to foresee all, to guard her against every ill that can possibly happen. I have nothing more to say. I spoke at first as a calm and foreseeing man who wished to protect you against everything—now I am simply and only the man who loves you. Order me as you please.
MME. DE SALLUS
That is all very prettily said; but is it true?
JACQUES DE RANDOL
I swear it!
MME. DE SALLUS
You wish to fly with me?
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Yes.
MME. DE SALLUS
From the bottom of your heart?
JACQUES DE RANDOL
From the bottom of my heart.
MME. DE SALLUS
To-day?
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Yes, and whenever you please.
MME. DE SALLUS
It is now a quarter to eight. My husband will be coming in directly, for we dine at eight. I shall be free at half past nine or ten o'clock.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Where shall I wait for you?
MME. DE SALLUS
At the end of the street in a coupé. [The bell rings.] There he is, and for the last time, thank God!
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