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a goddess? Amphitrite gave herself to the Cyclops. Fluctivoma
Amphitrite. Am I a fairy? Urgele gave herself to Bugryx, a winged man,
with eight webbed hands. Am I a princess? Marie Stuart had Rizzio. Three
beauties, three monsters. I am greater than they, for you are lower than
they. Gwynplaine, we were made for one another. The monster that you are
outwardly, I am within. Thence my love for you. A caprice? Just so. What
is a hurricane but a caprice? Our stars have a certain affinity.
Together we are things of night--you in your face, I in my mind. As your
countenance is defaced, so is my mind. You, in your turn, create me. You
come, and my real soul shows itself. I did not know it. It is
astonishing. Your coming has evoked the hydra in me, who am a goddess.
You reveal my real nature. See how I resemble you. Look at me as if I
were a mirror. Your face is my mind. I did not know I was so terrible. I
am also, then, a monster. O Gwynplaine, you do amuse me!"
She laughed, a strange and childlike laugh; and, putting her mouth
close to his ear, whispered,--
"
Do you want to see a mad woman? look at me."
She poured her searching look into Gwynplaine. A look is a philtre. Her
loosened robe provoked a thousand dangerous feelings. Blind, animal
ecstasy was invading his mind--ecstasy combined with agony. Whilst she
spoke, though he felt her words like burning coals, his blood froze
within his veins. He had not strength to utter a word.
She stopped, and looked at him.
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