He began to smile again. "By Jove! Simpletons and fools are always
someone's dupes."
But she continued to follow out her idea: "I ought to have divined your
nature from the beginning. But no, I could not believe that you could be
such a blackguard as that."
He assumed an air of dignity, saying: "I beg of you to pay attention to
the words you are making use of."
His indignation revolted her. "What? You want me to put on gloves to
talk to you now. You have behaved towards me like a vagabond ever since
I have known you, and you want to make out that I am not to tell you so.
You deceive everyone; you take advantage of everyone; you filch money
and enjoyment wherever you can, and you want me to treat you as an
honest man!"
He rose, and with quivering lip, said: "Be quiet, or I will turn you out
of here."
She stammered: "Turn me out of here; turn me out of here! You will turn
me out of here--you--you?" She could not speak for a moment for choking
with anger, and then suddenly, as though the door of her wrath had been
burst open, she broke out with: "Turn me out of here? You forget, then,
that it is I who have paid for these rooms from the beginning. Ah, yes,
you have certainly taken them on from time to time. But who first took
them? I did. Who kept them on? I did. And you want to turn me out of
here. Hold your tongue, you good-for-nothing fellow. Do you think I
don't know you robbed Madeleine of half Vaudrec's money? Do you think I
don't know how you slept with Susan to oblige her to marry you?"
He seized her by the shoulders, and, shaking her with both hands,
exclaimed: "Don't speak of her, at any rate. I won't have it."