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By Root 1226 0

him of wrecking her life and making it impossible for them to continue living together. It was all because of him. If their marriage was in ruins and she had taken a lover, it was his fault. His sluggish apathy, his indifference when she got angry, the way he slouched around, apparently content with life, and growing repulsively fat and flabby, was more than she could bear. She had to get away from him, make a break, find a new life somewhere else! This was all she could think of. If only she could make a fresh start, put the past behind her, and begin her life again as it was before all these dreadful things happened. If only she could be fifteen again, and love and be loved, and live as she had dreamed of living then! She spent a week dreaming of how she might escape. She would leave with Jacques. They would hide somewhere in Belgium and find a house to live in like any other hard-working young couple. But even before she had spoken to Jacques about it, she immediately foresaw all sorts of complications: their situation would be most irregular, they could never feel settled, and above all, she would be leaving everything she possessed in the hands of her husband — all her money and La Croix-de-Maufras. They had each made wills leaving everything to the surviving spouse. Besides, she was in his power, since in law the wife was considered the dependant of her husband. She would rather stay where she was and die than leave and lose a single penny. One day Roubaud came back looking very shaken; he said he’d just crossed the line in front of an oncoming locomotive and the buffer had caught him on the elbow. It occurred to her that if he had died she would be free. She gazed at him open-eyed. Why could he not die? He no longer loved her and he was in everybody’s way!

From that day, Séverine’s dream changed. Roubaud had died in an accident, and she was leaving with Jacques for America. They were married, they had sold La Croix-de-Maufras and they were now rich. All their fears were behind them. They were leaving France to start a new life together, hand in hand. In America, all those things she wanted to forget would no longer exist; she would be able to believe she was starting life all over again. She had made mistakes in the past, but would now set out to do only what brought her happiness. Jacques would easily find a job, and she could find something to do herself. They would make money and no doubt have children. It would be a new life of prosperity and good fortune. As soon as she was on her own, lying in bed in the morning or doing her needlework during the day, she would dream her dream, changing it, embellishing it, constantly adding to its delights and finally imagining herself happier and better off than anyone in the world. Previously she had ventured out very little, but now she loved to go and watch the liners as they sailed away over the sea. She would walk down to the jetty, lean against the wall and watch the smoke from the ships until it merged with the clouds on the horizon. She became two separate persons, imagining herself standing on the deck with Jacques, already far away from France, on her way to the paradise of her dreams.

One evening towards the middle of March, Jacques, having risked coming to visit her in her apartment, informed her that he had just brought one of his old friends at the Technical College down from Paris in the train. He was leaving for New York to promote a new invention — a machine for making buttons. He needed a partner, a trained mechanic; he’d offered to take Jacques with him. It was a fine opportunity; all it needed was about thirty thousand francs investing in it, and he’d probably make millions. Jacques told her all this simply by way of conversation. Naturally he’d said no, although he admitted it was very tempting; it’s hard to turn down the chance of a fortune when one comes along.

Séverine stood listening to him, with a faraway look in her eyes; it seemed like her dream, about to come true.

‘Ah!’ she murmured. ‘We could leave tomorrow...’

Jacques looked up in surprise.