ladder with a bricklayer's hod upon his shoulders? It may be hard work,
I know, but surely the business is not difficult to learn. You have, or
say you have, great musical talents. I say nothing about them; but had
I any vocal powers and if there was not a morsel to eat in the house,
I would go and sing in the taverns or even in the public streets, and
would earn money, and care little for the means by which I made it."

"When you say those things, you seem to forget that I am an honest man."

"One would really suppose that I had suggested some questionable act to
you. Your reply, Paul, plainly proves to me that you are one of those
who, for want of determination, fall, helpless, by the wayside in the
journey of life. They flaunt their rags and tatters in the eyes of the
world, and with saddened hearts and empty stomachs utter the boast,
'I am an honest man.' Do you think that, in order to be rich, you must
perforce be a rogue? This is simple imbecility."

She uttered this tirade in clear and vibrant accents, and her eyes
gleamed with the fire of savage resolution. Her nature was one of those
cruel and energetic ones, which lead a woman to hurl a man from the
brink of the abyss to which she had conducted him, and to forget him
before he has ever reached the bottom.

This torrent of sarcasm brought out Paul's real nature. His face
flushed, and rage began to gain the mastery over him. "Can you not
work?" he asked. "Why do you not do something instead of talking so
much?"

"That is not at all the same thing," answered she coolly. "I was not
made for work."