Diary of a Madman Page #4

This was your victim,

Magistrate.

You drove her to suicide.

You tortured her mind

until she took her own life.

No.

She was innocent,

yet you judged her guilty.

You blamed her

for the death of your son.

Forgive me.

Now I am here,

and I will never leave you.

Why? What do you want?

Your will, Magistrate.

Your evil has delivered you to me.

I've paid for my sins.

You thought your loneliness

was repentance for your wife's death.

All it did was make you vulnerable.

Look, Magistrate. Look at the clay

you finished sculpting tonight.

You wanted to believe

that your model was

what she pretended to be.

But this is what she really is.

You see evil in everything!

Only where it exists.

No. No, she is as I saw her.

Pierre!

Pierre, come up here at once.

- What is it?

- I don't know.

Sir?

Pierre.

The clay.

Tell me, what do you see?

Why, it's changed, sir.

Yes. Yes, I wanted you to see.

But why, sir?

Why is it changed?

Thank you, Pierre.

That will be all.

Leave me alone now, please.

All my life

I had sought knowledge,

and now I was granted knowledge

rarely granted other men.

No more hideous fact could have

been conceived to terrify my mind.

The Horla really live.

They cannot be seen.

Still, they are tangible,

composed of solid matter.

And only the Lord knows

if they are flesh and blood

as we are.

Why are they here?

Why has their evil

been turned loose upon the earth?

You tremble, Magistrate? Why?

Perhaps I will be

a gentle and kind master.

Get out! Leave me alone!

But I want to help you.

There. No reason we shouldn't

be comfortable, is there?

You do not believe

that the woman who posed for you

is without a heart,

that your riches, your position,

are the goal of her evil ambition.

It makes no difference.

I'll never see her again.

Don't you want to prove

that I'm wrong?

The woman means nothing to me.

She will.

What are you saying?

You will pursue her, Magistrate.

You will seek to create love

where there is no love.

No, I will not.

I tell you, I will not!

Your will obeys me

from this moment on.

You have no choice.

She is a vain woman, Magistrate.

The painting of her,

the one that brought you together,

it would appeal to that vanity.

I thought I'd never live to see it,

the face of another woman

where Mrs. Cordier's had been.

There are so many strange things

happening in this house.

They're coming.

And you won't tell me

what the surprise is?

Well, why spoil it?

Seeing you this soon again

was enough of a surprise.

Did you really think

I'd let you get away so easily?

I thought you were only interested

in clay women.

- Good afternoon, sir.

- Good afternoon, Pierre.

Tell Louise that we'll want

her finest dinner, and champagne.

- '81 was a good year.

- Yes, sir.

Champagne?

You're filled with surprises.

Well, I want this to be

a most memorable day.

The suspense

is positively unbearable.

My painting!

Oh, Simon, why?

WhY did you buy it?

Well, it was such

an ugly empty space there.

Well, I think it's quite decorative,

don't you?

Well, is that the only reason

you brought me here,

W get my opinion?

Well, can you think

of a more charming audience

for such a charming painting?

I'm overwhelmed.

Well, then, perhaps

this memorable day will...

will lead to many such days.

I'm not sure what you mean.

Well, it's really quite simple.

You see, after you left here

last night,

I suddenly realized

that both the house and my heart

were quite empty.

Oh, and yesterday I thought

I'd never see you again.

Oh, Simon, you...

you gave me no indication

that you felt this way.

And I realize that I'm much older

than you are.

Oh, no, please, I'm flattered.

Can't you understand?

All those weeks we were together,

I was the one who cared.

Very well, then, defendant,

how to you plead?

I don't know whether

I'm innocent of guilty feelings

or guilty of innocent feelings.

Are you wondering

if I am proposing marriage?

- Marriage?

- Would you accept less?

Oh, Simon, I...

I only know I love you.

Then, I will pronounce the sentence.

Turn around, turn around.

Oh, Simon.

Oh, Simon, it's lovely.

Thank you, Simon.

Would it answer your question

if I told you that that cameo

once belonged to my wife?

Oh, Simon.

When she came home last night,

she was a stranger to me,

as though I had never known her.

Nothing I said made any difference.

She just laughed when I told her

that the ballet painting

had been sold for 100 francs.

You mean she's already taken

the new apartment?

Yeah, moved into it this morning.

Oh, Paul, I'm terribly sorry.

Am I supposed to accept it?

What do I do, Jeanne?

She always wanted so much.

Why couldn't she have waited

for your success?

As you would?

She's my wife, not a friend.

There's a difference.

Yes, there's a difference.

I found this in her dresser drawer

after she'd moved.

A magistrate?

Yes, a rich man,

a man of position.

Who else do we know

could afford 10 francs an hour?

But how can you be sure?

When she left,

she said she was going to have

all the things

I could never give her.

I didn't know what she meant then.

I do now.

Paul, she's still married to you.

Yes.

And as long as she is,

that's the one thing

he can't give her.

To my future wife,

who taught me how to laugh again.

Simon.

Simon, would it matter

very much to you

if we didn't announce the wedding

just yet?

Wait? But why?

Well, there's something

I must take care of first.

But surely there's nothing

so important that...

Oh, Simon, trust me, please.

Of course, my dear.

But I wanted to open our place

on the lake at Lucerne.

The weather is still fine,

and our honeymoon could be...

Oh, darling, I promise you,

nothing will stop us

from having that honeymoon.

Pardon, sir,

there's someone to see you.

- At this hour?

- Mr. Duclasse.

Duclasse, the artist?

Yes.

Well, have him wait.

What is it, Odette?

I wanted to have it settled

before I told you.

Well, does Duclasse

mean anything to you?

He is my husband.

Oh, Simon, we're separated.

I've told him

I'll never go back to him.

Simon, I don't want to go

through another scene with him.

I understand.

Good evening, Mr. Duclasse.

This way, please.

You were the one

who bought the painting.

Oh, be assured,

I am an admirer of your work.

And of my wife.

Well, then,

we have much in common.

Won't you sit down?

You do admit

you are the reason Odette left me.

I do not.

I only know that she had left you.

I want you to leave her alone.

But, Mr. Duclasse,

Odette is no child.

She has made a choice.

Choice? And what did she choose?

This big house, your money.

I sympathize with you.

But I prefer to believe

that she has found it possible

to think of me

as a man she wants.

And if I refuse to give you

the divorce?

Do you really think

it would make any difference?

She has already intimated to me

that she prefers me on any terms.

I could kill you for that.

You are in my house,

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