The greatest
beauty of it was that there was no need to move. This gave him a
sort of moral satisfaction. Then the first thought independent of
personal sensations came into his head. He wondered when Therese
would come in and begin talking. He saw vaguely a human figure in
the room but that was a man. He was speaking in a deadened voice
which had yet a preternatural distinctness.
"This is the second case I have had in this house, and I am sure
that directly or indirectly it was connected with that woman. She
will go on like this leaving a track behind her and then some day
there will be really a corpse. This young fellow might have been
it."
"In this case, Doctor," said another voice, "one can't blame the
woman very much. I assure you she made a very determined fight."
"What do you mean? That she didn't want to. . . "
"Yes. A very good fight. I heard all about it. It is easy to
blame her, but, as she asked me despairingly, could she go through
life veiled from head to foot or go out of it altogether into a
convent? No, she isn't guilty. She is simply--what she is."
"And what's that?"
"Very much of a woman. Perhaps a little more at the mercy of
contradictory impulses than other women.
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