"What do you say?"
"No, madame, he would never believe anything that you might say against me. Do you suppose that I have not provided against everything? I have obtained such control over your husband"s mind that he no longer sees except through my eyes, no longer acts except by my will; in fact, he is a machine, whose movements I govern at my pleasure. But tremble, if you reject my suit, for the power which I shall exert over the weak-minded Edouard! You will learn then to know me, and you will repent your unjust pride; but it will be too late, for my hatred will be as active as my love is violent."
"Abominable man! I feel that the horror that you have inspired in me has increased twofold, but I defy your threats, and I forbid you to come into my presence again."
Dufresne"s face expressed rage and irony at once; his nerves contracted, a bitter smile played about his lips, while his eyes darted flashes of fire. Adeline, in terror, tried to fly; he stopped her, threw his muscular arms about her, pressed her violently to his breast, and placed his burning lips upon his victim"s heaving breast; he was about to proceed to the last excess, but the young woman uttered a piercing shriek; people hurried to the spot, the sound of footsteps drew near.
Dufresne opened a window looking on the garden, jumped out and disappeared.
Several servants and young men entered the room; they gathered about Adeline and inquired the cause of her alarm. Her eyes wandered distractedly about; the sight of the open window recalled all that had pa.s.sed, and she realized the necessity of concealing her emotion.
"What"s the matter, madame, what has happened to you?" was asked on all sides.
"I don"t know," she said, trying to calm her agitation, "I did not feel very well, the heat made me uncomfortable. I came to this room to obtain a breath of fresh air; but as I opened that window, a fit of dizziness--I tried to call for help, and I had not the strength."
The explanation seemed very plausible; they urged Madame Murville not to return to the salon, where the intense heat might make her ill again.
Adeline had no idea of doing so; she would have been unable to endure Dufresne"s presence. So she withdrew to her apartments, requesting somebody to apologize for her to the rest of the company.
She asked her maid to tell Edouard that she wished to see him as soon as he was at liberty. The servant delivered the message. But Murville paid little heed to it. He had just lost forty louis at ecarte to an exceedingly pretty young woman, who bestowed very expressive glances upon him, smiling at him and showing the loveliest teeth in the world; and, accidentally, no doubt, allowed her little foot to rest upon his, and her knee to remain between his legs. How could he help allowing himself to be beaten by so attractive a player? She pouted so sweetly when he refused to give her cards that it was impossible to resist her.
Edouard felt that he was subjugated; but imagine his sensations when she asked him to wipe the perspiration from a very white back, which was moist from dancing! He performed the service with trembling fingers; she thanked him with a pressure of the hand, and invited him to come to see her and to take his revenge for the game of ecarte.
At five in the morning, they danced the regulation quadrille to close the ball. They laughed and mixed the figures up and tired themselves out; they made much noise and much dust; and then they took their leave, one carrying away an old hat in place of the new one he had had when he came, and which he could not find; another, minus the pretty cane which he had taken pains to place in a dark corner; very fortunate when the mackintosh or overcoat or cloak had not been changed.
Advice to young men who frequent large parties: Do not carry valuable canes, and wear nothing better than an old hat to leave in the reception room, unless you choose to keep it in your hand all the time, as many people do nowadays to avoid the slight vexation which we have just mentioned.
Edouard, with a full heart and an empty purse, went to his room, engrossed by the pretty woman with whom he had played ecarte, and without a thought for his own wife, who had long been waiting for him in vain.
XVIII
FOLLY.--BLINDNESS.--WEAKNESS
Adeline had risen during the night, being anxious concerning her husband; but on learning that he had gone to his apartment very late, she decided not to disturb his rest, and waited until he should be awake to tell him what had taken place in the evening between herself and Dufresne, whom she hoped to make known to him as he really was.
Edouard woke and went downstairs to breakfast. Adeline was waiting for him; she reproached him gently for his indifference of the night before; but he hardly listened to her; he was distraught, preoccupied, and complained of a violent headache which he hoped to get rid of by going out. Adeline detained him, informing him that she had something of great importance to say. Amazed by his wife"s tone, Edouard instinctively resumed his seat and requested her to hurry because business required his attention. The servants were dismissed and Adeline repeated to her husband her conversation with Dufresne on the previous evening.
Edouard listened at first with indifference; but soon displeasure and impatience were depicted upon his face.
"Well, my dear," said Adeline, after she had told him everything, "what do you think now of your sincere friend?"
"I think--I think that you make a crime of a trifle, and a matter of importance of something that amounts to nothing."
"What! my dear----"
"Certainly; a declaration to a woman! mon Dieu! is that such a rare thing, for heaven"s sake, a thing for which it is necessary to make so much fuss? Every day pretty women receive declarations addressed to them in jest, to which they attach no more importance than they deserve. But you take fright at a word! a simple compliment seems to you an attempt at seduction! you shouldn"t take things so! But I know you: you don"t like--more than that, you detest Dufresne. For a long time you have been trying to ruin him in my estimation, and you seize this pretext for accomplishing your purpose; but I warn you, madame, that you will not succeed."
"Is it possible, monsieur? do you accuse me, do you suspect me of being capable of deceiving you?"
"Or of being deceived? How do you know that Dufresne did not talk all that nonsense to you to make sport of you, and to be revenged for your hatred, which he perceives very plainly?"
"Was it for that purpose too that he tried to carry his audacity so far as to kiss me?"
"Kiss you! Well, I admit that he was wrong to kiss you against your will, and I shall scold him for it. But a kiss is not a thing which should irritate you to this point!"
"You do not intend then, monsieur, to cease to receive Monsieur Dufresne in your house?"
"Most a.s.suredly, madame, I do not intend to make myself unhappy, to make myself ridiculous, and to cause people to point their fingers at me as a jealous husband, simply because somebody ventured to embrace you in jest! That would be utterly absurd! But calm yourself, I will forbid Dufresne to mention his pa.s.sion to you again!"
"What, Edouard, you laugh! You think so little of what I have told you?"
"I do what it is my duty to do, and I know how to behave."
"Alas! you no longer love me, I see. Formerly you were more jealous."
"One may love without being jealous; and besides--but it is getting late, and I have business that I must attend to."
"What about that rich shipowner for whom you gave the party?"
"He was not able to come."
"So all your expense was useless?"
"Useless! No, indeed; I was very warmly congratulated on my party. It will do me a great deal of good in the sequel, and I am delighted that I gave it.--I must leave you, for I have not a moment of my own."
Edouard hurried away to Dufresne. That gentleman seemed a little disturbed at sight of him, but he soon recovered himself; it was not to talk about what his wife had told him that Murville was so eager to be with him, but to talk about the lovely woman with whom he had played ecarte the night before, to find out who she was and what position she held in society; in a word, it was to dilate without reserve upon desires and hopes which he did not shrink from disclosing to his friend.
Dufresne gratified Edouard"s curiosity by informing him that Madame de Geran was the widow of a general, that she was absolutely her own mistress, that she had some means but possessed the art of spending money rapidly, because she was exceedingly fond of pleasure. Dufresne took pains to add that many men paid court to the young widow, but that she received their homage with indifference, treated love as a joke and made sport of the flames she kindled, and that her conquest seemed to be difficult of accomplishment.
All that he learned added to Edouard"s newly-born pa.s.sion. What joy to carry off the palm from so many rivals,--and Madame de Geran had looked at him and treated him in such a way as to justify him in forming hopes.
The fact was that she had turned his head; and Dufresne, who had no difficulty in reading the weak and fickle Murville"s heart, seized the opportunity to broach the subject of his interview with Adeline, taking pains to represent the thing as a mere pleasantry, which he did not expect would be so severely reprehended.
"Yes, yes, I know," said Edouard; "my wife spoke to me about it this morning."
"Ah! she told you----"
"That you were a monster, a villain, a false friend!"
"Indeed!"
"And much more too! for I warn you that she is furiously angry with you.
But never fear--I will pacify her; she will see that she took the thing in the wrong way when she learns that you mentioned it first."
"I am truly sorry that I amused myself by--But after all, your wife is a very strange woman!"
"It"s her mother, Madame Germeuil, who has stuffed her head with romantic ideas."