accept a legacy of this kind from a man whom public report has already assigned to her as a lover. Forestier might perhaps have tolerated it, but not me.”
She murmured, mildly: “Well, dear, do not let us accept it. It will be a million the less in our pockets, that is all.”
He was still walking up and down, and began to think aloud, speaking for his wife’s benefit without addressing himself directly to her: “Yes, a million, so much the worse. He did not understand, in making his will, what a fault in tact, what a breach of propriety he was committing. He did not see in what a false, a ridiculous position he would place me. Everything is a matter of detail in this life. He should have left me half; that would have settled everything.”
He sat down, crossed his legs, and began to twist the end of his moustache, as he did in moments of boredom, uneasiness, and difficult reflection. Madeleine took up some embroidery at which she worked from time to time, and said, while selecting her wools: “I have only to hold my tongue. It is for you to reflect.”