"What's to
become of all these vows--"
"You are wasting your breath! Do you remember what
Rochefoucauld said of Madame de Longueville?--`To win her heart,
to delight her beautiful eyes, I have taken up arms against the
king; I would have done the same against the gods!' Is she not
worth it all?" with a gesture of his arms which sent the live
coals of his pipe comet-like across the intervening space. "Is
she not worth it all?"
"Who?--Madame de Longueville? I thought she was dead these two
hundred years!"
"Damn it, Maurice!"
"I will, if you say so. The situation is equal to a good deal of
plain, honest damning." Maurice banged his fist again. "John,
sit down and listen to me. I'll not sit still and see you made a
fool. Promises? This woman will keep none. When she has wrung
you dry she will fling you aside. At this moment she is probably
laughing behind your back. You were brought here for this
purpose. Threats and bribes were without effect. Love might
accomplish what the other two had failed to do. You know little
of the ways of the world. Do you know that this house party is
scandalous, for all its innocence? Do you know that Madame's
name would be a byword were it known that we have been here more
than two weeks, alone with two women? Who but a woman that feels
herself above convention would dare offer this affront to
society? Do you know why Madame the countess came? Company for
Madame? No; she was to play make love to me to keep me out of
the way.
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