He was certainly uglier, that collection of every physical and moral ugliness, that companion of beggars whom she had picked up among her former vagrant associates, that jailbird, that dealer in little girls, that vagabond covered with filth, with legs like a toad's, with a mouth like a lamprey, and a death's head, in which the nose had been replaced by two holes.
"And you have wronged me with a wretch like that," the poor cuckold said. "And in my own house! and in such a manner that I might catch you in the very act! And why, why, you wretch? Why, seeing that he is uglier than I am?"
"Oh! no," she exclaimed. "You may say what you like, but do not say that he is uglier than you are."
And the unhappy man stood there, vanquished and overcome by her last words, which she uttered without understanding all the horror which he would feel at them.
"Because, you see, he has his own particular ugliness, while you are merely ugly like everybody else is."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Literally, "The bird flies"—a pun on the verb voler, which means both "to fly" and "to steal."
[2] Nickname for Napoleon III.
[3] Jevôdre voir vô comment vô faites le painture? Velé vô? Je été très curièux.