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Were you born with that frightful laugh on your face? No! No doubt it is
a penal brand. I do hope you have committed some crime. Come to my
arms."
She sank on the couch, and made him sit beside her. They found
themselves close together unconsciously. What she said passed over
Gwynplaine like a mighty storm. He hardly understood the meaning of her
whirlwind of words. Her eyes were full of admiration. She spoke
tumultuously, frantically, with a voice broken and tender. Her words
were music, but their music was to Gwynplaine as a hurricane. Again she
fixed her gaze upon him and continued,--
"I feel degraded in your presence, and oh, what happiness that is! How
insipid it is to be a grandee! I am noble; what can be more tiresome?
Disgrace is a comfort. I am so satiated with respect that I long for
contempt. We are all a little erratic, from Venus, Cleopatra, Mesdames
de Chevreuse and de Longueville, down to myself. I will make a display
of you, I declare. Here's a love affair which will be a blow to my
family, the Stuarts. Ah! I breathe again. I have discovered a secret. I
am clear of royalty. To be free from its trammels is indeed deliverance.
To break down, defy, make and destroy at will, that is true enjoyment.
Listen, I love you."
She paused; then with a frightful smile went on, "I love you, not only
because you are deformed, but because you are low. I love monsters, and
I love mountebanks. A lover despised, mocked, grotesque, hideous,
exposed to laughter on that pillory called a theatre, has for me an
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