"Of course they do; I told them I was going to show them up."
Now at last was the moment for decisive action. The consul looked at her in his most official manner.
"Well, you must never go back there. I refuse to put up with your nonsense any longer. I insist on your leaving this man who isn't your husband."
But he found himself helpless against the woman's insane obstinacy. He repeated all the arguments he had used so often, but she would not listen, and as usual he lost his temper. It was then, in answer to his final, desperate question, that she had made the remark which had entirely robbed him of his calm.
"But what on earth makes you stay with the man?" he cried.
She hesitated for a moment and a curious look came into her eyes.
"There's something in the way his hair grows on his forehead that I can't help liking," she answered.
The consul had never heard anything so outrageous. It really was the last straw. And now while he strode along, trying to walk off his anger, though he was not a man who often used bad language he really could not restrain himself, and he said fiercely:
"Women are simply bloody."