“At such a scene?”
“Yes, at such a scene, when one gentleman, with the silent approval of another gentleman, insults a woman like that, ” exclaimed Toppi, extremely irritated, and rose. Magnus, just as ironically, turned to me:
“And what do you say, Wondergood? Shall we release this little, extremely little, gentleman?”
“Stay, Toppi.”
Toppi sat down obediently.
From the moment Magnus resumed, I, for the first time, regained my breath and looked at Maria.
What shall I say to you? It was Maria. And here I understood a little what happens in one’s brain when one begins to go mad.
“May I continue?” asked Magnus. “However, I have little to add. Yes, I took her when she was fourteen or fifteen years old. She herself does not know how old she really is, but I was not her first lover...nor the tenth. I could never learn her past exactly. She either lies cunningly or is actually devoid of memory. But even the most subtle questioning, which even a most expert criminal could not dodge, neither bribes nor gifts, nor threats—and she is extremely cowardly!—could compel her to reveal herself. She does not ‘remember.’ That’s all. But her deep licentiousness, enough to shame the Sultan himself, her extraordinary experience and daring in ars amandi confirms my suspicion that she received her training in a lupanaria or...or at the court of some Nero. I do not know how old she is and she seems to change constantly. Why should I not say that she is 20 or 2000 years old? Maria...you can do everything and you know everything?”
I did not look at that woman. But in her answer there was a slight displeasure:
“Don’t talk nonsense. What will Mr. Wondergood think of me?”