"Undoubtedly," responded Pradel. "But she would be still prettier if her ankles weren't like stakes."
And Constantin Marc musingly replied.
"And Delage has outraged her. That fellow possesses the sense of love. Love is a simple and primitive act. It's a struggle, it's hatred. Violence is necessary to it. Love by mutual consent is merely a tedious obligation."
And he cried, greatly excited.
"Delage is prodigious!"
"Don't get yourself into a fix," said Pradel.
"This same little Lydie entices my actors into her dressing-room, and then all of a sudden she screams out that she is being outraged in order to get hush-money out of them. It's her lover who has taught her the trick, and takes the coin. You were saying, Madame Doulce——"
"After a long and interesting conversation," resumed Madame Doulce, "Monsieur l'Abbé Mirabelle suggested a favourable solution. He gave me to understand that, in order to remove all difficulties, it would be sufficient for a physician to certify that Chevalier was not in full possession of his faculties, and that he was not responsible for his acts."
"But," observed Pradel, "Chevalier wasn't insane. He was in full possession of his faculties."