a lustrous diamond; the larger the gem
the longer the kiss! The more diamonds you give, the more caresses you
will get. The jeunesse doree who ruin themselves and their ancestral
homes for the sake of the newest and prettiest female puppet on the
stage know this well enough. I smiled bitterly as I thought of the
languid witching look my wife had given me when she said, "You do not
seem to be old!" I knew the meaning of her eyes; I had not studied
their liquid lights and shadows so long for nothing. My road to revenge
was a straight and perfectly smooth line--almost too smooth. I could
have wished for some difficulty, some obstruction; but there was
none--absolutely none. The traitors walked deliberately into the trap
set for them. Over and over again I asked myself quietly and in cold
blood--was there any reason why I should have pity on them? Had they
shown one redeeming point in their characters? Was there any nobleness,
any honesty, any real sterling good quality in either of them to
justify my consideration? And always the answer came, NO! Hollow to the
heart's core, hypocrites both, liars both--even the guilty passion they
cherished for one another had no real earnestness in it save the
pursuit of present pleasure; for she, Nina, in that fatal interview in
the avenue where I had been a tortured listener, had hinted at the
possibility of tiring of her lover, and HE had frankly declared to me
that very day that it was absurd to suppose a man could be true to one
woman all his life. In brief, they deserved their approaching fate.
Such men as Guido and such women as my wife, are, I know, common enough
in all classes of society, but they are not the less pernicious
animals, meriting extermination as much, if not more, than the less
harmful beasts of prey. The poor beasts at any rate tell no lies, and
after death their skins are of some value; but who shall measure the
mischief done by a false tongue--and of what use is the corpse of a
liar save to infect the air with pestilence? I used to wonder at the
superiority of men over the rest of the animal creation, but I see now
that it is chiefly gained by excess of selfish cunning. The bulky,
good-natured, ignorant lion who has only one honest way of defending
himself, namely with tooth and claw, is no match for the jumping
two-legged little rascal who hides himself behind a bush and fires a
gun aimed direct at the bigger brute's heart. Yet the lion's mode of
battle is the b