General Changarnier"s recall had powerfully affected the capitalist"s mind. He was, on the evening of the occurrence, seized with a burning sensation in his chest, together with an oppression that prevented him from lying down. The application of leeches gave him immediate relief.
The dry cough disappeared; the respiration became more easy; and, eight days later, he said, while swallowing some broth:
"Ah! I"m better now--but I was near going on the last long journey!"
"Not without me!" exclaimed Madame Dambreuse, intending by this remark to convey that she would not be able to outlive him.
Instead of replying, he cast upon her and upon her lover a singular smile, in which there was at the same time resignation, indulgence, irony, and even, as it were, a touch of humour, a sort of secret satisfaction almost amounting to actual joy.
Frederick wished to start for Nogent. Madame Dambreuse objected to this; and he unpacked and re-packed his luggage by turns according to the changes in the invalid"s condition.
Suddenly M. Dambreuse spat forth considerable blood. The "princes of medical science," on being consulted, could not think of any fresh remedy. His legs swelled, and his weakness increased. He had several times evinced a desire to see Cecile, who was at the other end of France with her husband, now a collector of taxes, a position to which he had been appointed a month ago. M. Dambreuse gave express orders to send for her. Madame Dambreuse wrote three letters, which she showed him.
Without trusting him even to the care of the nun, she did not leave him for one second, and no longer went to bed. The ladies who had their names entered at the door-lodge made enquiries about her with feelings of admiration, and the pa.s.sers-by were filled with respect on seeing the quant.i.ty of straw which was placed in the street under the windows.
On the 12th of February, at five o"clock, a frightful haemoptysis came on. The doctor who had charge of him pointed out that the case had a.s.sumed a dangerous aspect. They sent in hot haste for a priest.
While M. Dambreuse was making his confession, Madame kept gazing curiously at him some distance away. After this, the young doctor applied a blister, and awaited the result.
The flame of the lamps, obscured by some of the furniture, lighted up the apartment in an irregular fashion. Frederick and Madame Dambreuse, at the foot of the bed, watched the dying man. In the recess of a window the priest and the doctor chatted in low tones. The good sister on her knees kept mumbling prayers.
At last came a rattling in the throat. The hands grew cold; the face began to turn white. Now and then he drew a deep breath all of a sudden; but gradually this became rarer and rarer. Two or three confused words escaped him. He turned his eyes upward, and at the same moment his respiration became so feeble that it was almost imperceptible. Then his head sank on one side on the pillow.
For a minute, all present remained motionless.
Madame Dambreuse advanced towards the dead body of her husband, and, without an effort--with the unaffectedness of one discharging a duty--she drew down the eyelids. Then she spread out her two arms, her figure writhing as if in a spasm of repressed despair, and quitted the room, supported by the physician and the nun.
A quarter of an hour afterwards, Frederick made his way up to her apartment.
There was in it an indefinable odour, emanating from some delicate substances with which it was filled. In the middle of the bed lay a black dress, which formed a glaring contrast with the pink coverlet.
Madame Dambreuse was standing at the corner of the mantelpiece. Without attributing to her any pa.s.sionate regret, he thought she looked a little sad; and, in a mournful voice, he said:
"You are enduring pain?"
"I? No--not at all."
As she turned around, her eyes fell on the dress, which she inspected.
Then she told him not to stand on ceremony.
"Smoke, if you like! You can make yourself at home with me!"
And, with a great sigh:
"Ah! Blessed Virgin!--what a riddance!"
Frederick was astonished at this exclamation. He replied, as he kissed her hand:
"All the same, you were free!"
This allusion to the facility with which the intrigue between them had been carried on hurt Madame Dambreuse.
"Ah! you don"t know the services that I did for him, or the misery in which I lived!"
"What!"
"Why, certainly! Was it a safe thing to have always near him that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, a daughter, whom he introduced into the house at the end of five years of married life, and who, were it not for me, might have led him into some act of folly?"
Then she explained how her affairs stood. The arrangement on the occasion of her marriage was that the property of each party should be separate.[I] The amount of her inheritance was three hundred thousand francs. M. Dambreuse had guaranteed by the marriage contract that in the event of her surviving him, she should have an income of fifteen thousand francs a year, together with the ownership of the mansion. But a short time afterwards he had made a will by which he gave her all he possessed, and this she estimated, so far as it was possible to ascertain just at present, at over three millions.
Frederick opened his eyes widely.
[I] A marriage may take place in France under the _regime de communaute_, by which the husband has the enjoyment and the right of disposing of the property both of himself and his wife; the _regime dotal_, by which he can only dispose of the income; and the _regime de separation de biens_, by which husband and wife enjoy and exercise control over their respective estates separately.--TRANSLATOR.
"It was worth the trouble, wasn"t it? However, I contributed to it! It was my own property I was protecting; Cecile would have unjustly robbed me of it."
"Why did she not come to see her father?"
As he asked her this question Madame Dambreuse eyed him attentively; then, in a dry tone:
"I haven"t the least idea! Want of heart, probably! Oh! I know what she is! And for that reason she won"t get a farthing from me!"
She had not been very troublesome, he pointed out; at any rate, since her marriage.
"Ha! her marriage!" said Madame Dambreuse, with a sneer. And she grudged having treated only too well this stupid creature, who was jealous, self-interested, and hypocritical. "All the faults of her father!" She disparaged him more and more. There was never a person with such profound duplicity, and with such a merciless disposition into the bargain, as hard as a stone--"a bad man, a bad man!"
Even the wisest people fall into errors. Madame Dambreuse had just made a serious one through this overflow of hatred on her part. Frederick, sitting opposite her in an easy chair, was reflecting deeply, scandalised by the language she had used.
She arose and knelt down beside him.
"To be with you is the only real pleasure! You are the only one I love!"
While she gazed at him her heart softened, a nervous reaction brought tears into her eyes, and she murmured:
"Will you marry me?"
At first he thought he had not understood what she meant. He was stunned by this wealth.
She repeated in a louder tone:
"Will you marry me?"
At last he said with a smile:
"Have you any doubt about it?"
Then the thought forced itself on his mind that his conduct was infamous, and in order to make a kind of reparation to the dead man, he offered to watch by his side himself. But, feeling ashamed of this pious sentiment, he added, in a flippant tone: