Explore "The Test" by Guy De Maupassant on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Bondel felt baffled, very ill at ease. That insolent provocative laughter had affected him like the sting of one of those venomous flies which we do not feel at first, but which very soon begin to smart and hurt intolerably.
He went out, and walked about, brooding over it. The solitary nature of his new life disposed him to think unhappy thoughts and to take a gloomy view of things. The neighbour whom he had that morning met suddenly approached him. They shook hands and began to talk. After touching on various subjects, they began to talk about their wives. Each of them seemed to have something to confide, some inexpressible, vague and painful thing concerning the very nature of this creature associated with his life: a woman.