Civil enough until they were married,
but afterwards, oh! Afterwards.... Her husband was no better than
other men: he looked upon her as his property, he thought he had a
right to order her about."
"It was true. There was a time when he had believed that they belonged
to one another, but he had made a mistake. He belonged to her as a dog
belonged to its master. What was he but her footman, who called for
her at night to see her home? He was 'her husband.' But did she want
to be 'his wife'? Were they equals?"
"She hadn't come home to quarrel with him. She wanted to be nothing
but his wife, and she did not want him to be anything but her
husband."
The effect of the champagne, he thought, and turned to the wall.
She cried and begged him not to be unjust, but to--forgive her.
He pulled the blankets over his ears.
She asked him again if he--if he didn't want her to be his wife any
more?
"Yes, of course, he wanted her! But he had been so dreadfully bored
all the evening, he could never live through another evening like it."
"Let them forget all about it then!"
And they forgot all about it and continued loving one another.
On the following evening, when the green forester came for his wife,
he was told that she had gone to the store rooms.
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