Scenes of a similar character had occasionally occurred before, but there had never been so serious a one.

Guillaume immediately admitted that he had done wrong in laughing at her, for she could not bear irony.

Then he told Pierre that in her childhood and youth she had been subject to terrible attacks of passion whenever she witnessed or heard of any act of injustice.

As she herself explained, these attacks would come upon her with irresistible force, transporting her to such a point that she would sometimes fall upon the floor and rave.

Even nowadays she proved quarrelsome and obstinate whenever certain subjects were touched upon.