GRACE
329
intolerable. In the light-oak dining room where they passed their
leisure hours, Madame Duperrier, unable to knit, would feast her
eyes savagely on the halo. Duperrier, usually engaged in reading one
of his pious books, now and then felt the touch of angels' wings upon
him,
and the beatific joy that appeared on
his
face added to the
irri–
tation of his companion. There were times, however, when he would
gaze at her with eyes full of solicitude, and then the look of hate and
disapproval which met his gaze could only awaken in him a kind of
remorse, a feeling that was incompatible with the gratitude he owed
to Heaven, which in tum led to further feelings of remorse at one
remove.
So painful a situation could not endure without peril to the
poor woman's sanity. Soon she complained that sleep had become
impossible due to the light which the halo shed on her pillow at night.
Duperrier, who sometimes read a chapter of the Gospels by the
divine light, could not but admit the justice of her grievance and
began to feel a sense of guilt. Finally, this unhappy state was brought
to a crisis by certain events greatly to be deplored by reason of their
consequences.
One morning, on the way to his office, Duperrier passed a
funeral on the rue Gabrielle, not far from where he lived. Of late,
doing violence to his courteous nature, he had adopted the habit of
merely touching the brim of his hat in salutation. But on this occa–
sion, contrary to custom, he deemed it proper to remove his hat out
of respect for the dead. Several shopkeepers, still yawning on their
doorsteps, rubbed their eyes when they saw the halo and gathered
round to discuss it. Not long after, when Madame Duperrier appeared
to do her morning's shopping, they were waiting for her, and quite
naturally the denials which she poured forth in her distress struck
them as strange. When her husband returned at noon he found her
in such a state of nerves that he feared for her reason.
"Take that halo off!" she shouted. "Take it off this minute!
I don't ever want to see it again!"
Duperrier remonstrated that it was not in his power to take
it off, to which his wife replied vociferously:
"Not in your power? Why, if you had one iota of considera–
tion or feeling for me, you'd find a way! But you're too much of
an egoist!"
