In
the attempt of preserving her private life, the actress Véronique
de Coulanges vowed never to answer the enflamed letters of her admirers.
Thus,
when the young writer Oskar Serti wanted to take her heart by storm,
she stood her ground for more than a month. Then, one morning, rereading
the letters which he had not ceased to write to her, she fell under their
spell. Moved by an obscure force, she could not live a moment more without
knowing this man. She grabbed her telephone, and invited Oskar to come
as soon as possible and have tea with her.
Noticing
that she was still in her night gown, Véronique rushed to the
bathroom to change into something more suited to the occasion (1). Unfortunately,
she tripped on the telephone wire, lost balance, fell head first onto
the floor, and passed out (2).
Nearly an hour later, Véronique finally regained her senses. Deeply
troubled, with beads of perspiration all over her body, she immediately
remembered that during her swoon, she had dreamed of Oskar Serti. This
latter had not ceased to hug and caress her as no one had done until
then (3).
The
moment she stood up, she wanted to disentangle herself from the telephone
wire; but when she saw to what extent it had wrapped around her legs,
arms and neck, she understood the origin of her indecent dream (4).
It
was then, with a surprising blend of anxiety and impatience, that she
heard a man’s step stop at the door to her apartment. But after
a moment’s hesitation, as if he was looking for someone else, the
man continued to make his way along the great staircase which led to
the upper floors.
Dejected by the presentiment that Oskar wouldn’t come, Véronique
took stock of the weight of her solitude and decided to remain an instant
longer, prisoner of her wire.