..And
what a funny house, isn't it, with landscapes like that in it?"
"Yes, it's like the Musee Grevin....But, say, Erik...there
are no tortures in there!...What a fright you gave me!"
"Why...as there is no one there?"
"Did you design that room? It's very handsome. You're a
great artist, Erik."
"Yes, a great artist, in my own line."
"But tell me, Erik, why did you call that room the torture-chamber?"
"Oh, it's very simple. First of all, what did you see?"
"I saw a forest."
"And what is in a forest?"
"Trees."
"And what is in a tree?"
"Birds."
"Did you see any birds?"
"No, I did not see any birds."
"Well, what did you see? Think! You saw branches And what are
the branches?" asked the terrible voice. "THERE'S A GIBBET!
That is why I call my wood the torture-chamber!...You see,
it's all a joke. I never express myself like other people.
But I am very tired of it!...I'm sick and tired of having a forest
and a torture-chamber in my house and of living like a mountebank,
in a house with a false bottom!...I'm tired of it! I want to
have a nice, quiet flat, with ordinary doors and windows and a wife
inside it, like anybody else! A wife whom I could love and take
out on Sundays and keep amused on week-days.
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