Venus and Cupid

Venus and Cupid
Vermeer girl with the pearl earring
virgin of the rocks
Woman with a Parasol
¡¡¡¡ "You take me wrong, Sue! I never thought you cared for me at all, till quite lately; so I felt it did not matter! Do you care for me, Sue?--you know how I mean?--I don't like 'out of charity' at all!" ¡¡¡¡ It was a question which in the circumstances Sue did not choose to answer. ¡¡¡¡ "I suppose she--your wife--is--a very pretty woman even if she's wicked?" she asked quickly. ¡¡¡¡ "She's pretty enough, as far as that goes." ¡¡¡¡ "Prettier than I am, no doubt!" ¡¡¡¡ "You are not the least alike. And I have never seen her for years.... But she's sure to come back--they always do!" ¡¡¡¡ "How strange of you to stay apart from her like this!" said Sue, her trembling lip and lumpy throat belying her irony. "You, such a religious man. How will the demi-gods in your Pantheon--I mean those legendary persons you call saints--intercede for you after this? Now if I had done such a thing it would have been different, and not remarkable, for I at least don't regard marriage as a sacrament. Your theories are not so advanced as your practice!" ¡¡¡¡ "Sue, you are terribly cutting when you like to be--a perfect Voltaire! But you must treat me as you will!"