defying him, and she said in a clear voice: "Come, Limousin; as he is
going to turn me out of doors, I will go to your lodgings with you."

But Limousin did not move, and Parent, in a fresh access of rage, cried
out: "Go, will you? Go, you wretches! Or else--or else----" He seized
a chair and whirled it over his head.

Henriette walked quickly across the room, took her lover by the arm,
dragged him from the wall, to which he appeared fixed, and led him toward
the door, saying: "Do come, my friend--you see that the man is mad.
Do come!"

As she went out she turned round to her husband, trying to think of
something that she could do, something that she could invent to wound him
to the heart as she left the house, and an idea struck her, one of those
venomous, deadly ideas in which all a woman's perfidy shows itself, and
she said resolutely: "I am going to take my child with me."

Parent was stupefied, and stammered: "Your--your--child? You
dare to talk of your child? You venture--you venture to ask for your
child--after-after--Oh, oh, that is too much! Go, you vile
creature! Go!"

She went up to him again, almost smiling, almost avenged already, and
defying him, standing close to him, and face to face, she said: "I want
my child, and you have no right to keep him, because he is not
yours--do you understand? He is not yours! He is Limousin's!"

And Parent cried out in bewilderment: "You lie--you lie--worthless
woman!"