"Where is the fellow who brought this letter?" said he. "Run after him and bring him back to me."
In a few minutes the st.u.r.dy grooms made their appearance, pushing in the messenger, who seemed over-powered with tears.
"I am not a thief," exclaimed he. "It was given to me, but I will give it back."
He was alluding to the louis given to him by Norbert, for the largeness of the sum made him think that the donor had made a mistake.
"Keep the money," said the Duke; "I meant it for you; but tell me who gave this letter to you."
"I can"t tell you," answered the man. "If I ever saw him before, may my next gla.s.s of wine choke me. He got out of a cab just as I was pa.s.sing near the bridge, and calling to me, said, "Look at this letter; at half-past seven take it to the Duke de Champdoce, who lives by his stables in the road to the Forest. Do you know the place?" "Yes," I says, and then he slips the letter and a five-franc piece into my hand, got back into the cab, and off he went."
"What was the man like?" asked he.
"Well, I can hardly say. He wasn"t young or old, or short or tall.
I recollect he had a gold watch-chain on, but that was about all I noticed."
"Very well; you can be off."
At this moment Norbert"s anger was turned against the writer of the letter only, for he did not place the smallest credence in the accusations against his wife. If he did not love her, he at any rate respected her. "My wife," said he to himself, "is an honorable and virtuous woman, and it is some discharged menial who has taken this cowardly mode of revenge." A closer inspection of the letter seemed to show him that the faults in caligraphy were intentional. The concluding portion of the letter excited his attention, and, calling Jean, he asked him if it was true that all the servants would be absent from the house to-day.
"There will be none there this evening; not until late at night,"
answered the old man.
"And why, pray?"
"Have you forgotten, your Grace, that the first coachman is going to be married, and the d.u.c.h.ess was good enough to say that all might go to the wedding dinner and ball, as long as some one remained at the porter"s lodge?"
After the first outburst, Norbert affected an air of calmness, and laughed at the idea of having permitted himself to be disturbed for so trivial a cause. But this was mere pretence, for doubt and suspicion had entered his soul, and no power on earth could expel them. "Why should not my wife be unfaithful to me?" thought Norbert. "I give her credit for being honorable and right-minded, but then all deceived husbands have the same idea. Why should I not take advantage of this information, and judge for myself? But no. I will not stoop to such an act of baseness. I should be as infamous as the writer of this letter if I was to play the spy, as she recommends me to do." He glanced round, and perceived that his servants were looking at him with undisguised curiosity.
"Go to your work," said he. "Extinguish the lights, and see that all the doors and windows are carefully closed."
He had made up his mind now, and taking out his watch, saw that it was just eight o"clock. "I have time to reach Paris," muttered he, "by the appointed time." Then he called Jean to him again. There was no need to conceal anything from this trusty adherent of the house of Champdoce. "I must start for Paris," said the Duke, "without an instant"s delay."
"On account of that letter?" asked the old man with an expression of the deepest sorrow upon his features.
"Yes, for that reason only."
"Some one has been making false charges against the d.u.c.h.ess."
"How do you know that?"
"It was easy enough to guess."
"Have the carriage got ready, and tell the coachman to wait for me in front of the club. I myself will go on foot."
"You must not do that," answered Jean gravely. "The servants may have conceived the same suspicions as I have. You ought to creep away without any one being a bit the wiser. The other domestics need not even suppose that you have left the house. I can get you a horse out of the little stables without any one being the wiser. I will wait for you on the other side of the bridge."
"Good; but remember that I have not a moment to lose."
Jean left the room, and as he reached the pa.s.sage Norbert heard him say to one of the servants, "Put some cold supper on the table; the Duke says that he is starving."
Norbert went into his bedroom, put on a great coat and a pair of high boots, and slipped into his pocket a revolver, the charges of which he had examined with the greatest care. The night was exceedingly dark, a fine, icy rain was falling, and the roads were very heavy. Norbert found Jean with the horse at the appointed spot, and as he leaped into the saddle the Duke exclaimed, "Not a soul saw me leave the house."
"Nor I either," returned the attached domestic. "I shall go back and act as if you were at supper. At three in the morning I will be in the wine-shop on the left-hand side of the road. When you return, give a gentle tap on the window-pane with the handle of your whip." Norbert sprang into the saddle, and sped away through the darkness like a phantom of the night. Jean had made an excellent choice in the horse he had brought for his master"s use, and the animal made its way rapidly through the mud and rain; but Norbert by this time was half mad with excitement, and spurred him madly on. As he neared home a new idea crossed his brain. Suppose it was a practical joke on the part of some of the members of the club? In that case, they would doubtless be watching for his arrival, and, after talking to him on indifferent subjects, would, when he betrayed any symptoms of impatience, overwhelm him with ridicule. The fear of this made him cautious. What should he do with the horse he was riding? The wine-shops were open, and perhaps he might pick up some man there who would take charge of it for him. As he was debating this point, his eyes fell upon a soldier, probably on his way to barracks.
"My man," asked the Duke, "would you like to earn twenty francs?"
"I should think so, if it is nothing contrary to the rules and regulations of the army."
"It is only to take my horse and walk him up and down while I pay a visit close by."
"I can stay out of the barracks a couple of hours longer, but no more,"
returned the soldier.
Norbert told the soldier where he was to wait for him, and then went on rapidly to his own house, and reached the side street along which ran the garden belonging to his magnificent residence. On the opposite side of the street the houses all had porticoes, and Norbert took up his position in one of these, and peered out carefully. He had studied the whole street, which was not a long one, from beginning to end, and was convinced that he was the only person in it. He made up his mind that he would wait until midnight; and if by that time no one appeared, he would feel confident that the d.u.c.h.ess was innocent, and return without any one but Jean having known of his expedition. From his position he could see that three windows on the second floor of his house were lighted up, and those windows were in his wife"s sleeping apartment. "She is the last woman in the world to permit a lover to visit her," thought he. "No, no; the whole thing is a hoax." He began to think of the way in which he had treated his wife. Had he nothing to reproach himself with? Ten days after their marriage he had deserted her entirely; and if during the last few weeks he had paid her any attention, it was because he was acting in obedience to the whims of another woman. Suppose a lover was with her now, what right had he to interfere? The law gave him leave, but what did his conscience say? He leaned against the chill stone until he almost became as cold as it was. It seemed to him at that moment that life and hope were rapidly drifting away from him. He had lost all count of how long he had been on guard. He pulled out his watch, but it was too dark to distinguish the hands or the figures on the dial-plate. A neighboring clock struck the half-hour, but this gave him no clue as to the time. He had almost made up his mind to leave, when he heard the sound of a quick step coming down the street. It was the light, quick step of a sportsman,--of a man more accustomed to the woods and fields than the pavement and asphalt of Paris. Then a shadow fell upon the opposite wall, and almost immediately disappeared. Then Norbert knew that the door had opened and closed, and that the man had entered the garden. There could be no doubt upon this point, and yet the Duke would have given worlds to be able to disbelieve the evidence of his senses.
It might be a burglar, but burglars seldom work alone; or it might be a visitor to one of the servants, but all the servants were absent. He again raised his eyes to the windows of his wife"s room. All of a sudden the light grew brighter; either the lamp had been turned up, or fresh candles lighted. Yes, it was a candle, for he saw it borne across the room in the direction of the great staircase, and now he saw that the anonymous letter had spoken the truth, and that he was on the brink of a discovery. A lover had entered the garden, and the lighted candle was a signal to him. Norbert shuddered; the blood seemed to course through his veins like streams of molten fire, and the misty atmosphere that surrounded him appeared to stifle him. He ran across the street, forced the lock, and rushed wildly into the garden.
CHAPTER XVI.
HUSBAND AND LOVER.
The writer of the anonymous communication had only known the secret too well, for the d.u.c.h.ess de Champdoce was awaiting a visit that evening from George de Croisenois; this was, however, the first time. Step by step she had yielded, and at length had fallen into the snare laid for her by the treacherous woman whom she believed to be her truest friend.
The evening before this eventful night she had been alone in Madame de Mussidan"s drawing-room with George de Croisenois. She had been impressed by his ardent pa.s.sion, and had listened with pleasure to his loving entreaties.
"I yield," said she. "Come to-morrow night, at half-past ten, to the little door in the garden wall; it will only be kept closed by a stone being placed against it inside; push it, and it will open; and when you have entered the garden, acquaint me with your presence by clapping yours hands gently once or twice."
Diana had, from a secure hiding-place, overheard these words, and feeling certain that the d.u.c.h.ess would repent her rash promise, she kept close to her side until George"s departure, to give her no chance of retracting her promise. The next day she was constantly with her victim, and made an excuse for dining with her, so as not to quit her until the hour for the meeting had almost arrived.
It was not until she was left alone that the d.u.c.h.ess saw the full extent of her folly and rashness. She was terrified at the promise that she had given in a weak moment, and would have given worlds had she been able to retract.
There was yet, however, one means of safety left her--she could hurry downstairs and secure the garden gate. She started to her feet, determined to execute her project; but she was too late for the appointed signal was heard through the chill gloom of the night. Unhappy woman! The light sound of George de Croisenois" palms striking one upon the other resounded in her ears like the dismal tolling of the funereal bell. She stooped to light a candle at the fire, but her hand trembled so that she could scarcely effect her object. She felt sure that George was still in the garden, though she had made no answer to his signal.
She had never thought that he would have had the audacity to open a door that led into the house from the garden, but this is what he had done.
In the most innocent manner imaginable, and so that her listener in no way suspected the special reason that she had for making this communication, Diana de Mussidan had informed George de Croisenois that upon this night all the domestics of the Champdoce household would be attending the coachman"s wedding, and that consequently the mansion would be deserted. George knew also that the Duke was away at his training establishment, and he therefore opened the door, and walked boldly up the main staircase, so that when the d.u.c.h.ess, with the lighted candle in her hand, came to the top steps she found herself face to face with George de Croisenois, pallid with emotion and quivering with excitement.
At the sight of the man she loved she started backwards with a low cry of anguish and despair.
"Fly!" she said "fly, or we are lost!"
He did not, however, seem to hear her, and the d.u.c.h.ess recoiled slowly, step by step, through the open door of her chamber, across the carpeted floor, until she reached the opposite wall of her room, and could go no farther.
George followed her, and pushed to the door of the room as he entered it. This brief delay, however, had sufficed to restore Marie to the full possession of her senses. "If I permit him to speak," thought she,--"if he once suspects that my love for him is still as strong as ever, I am lost."
Then she said aloud,--
"You must leave this house, and that instantly. I was mad when I said what I did yesterday. You are too n.o.ble and too generous not to listen to me when I tell you that the moment of infatuation is over, and that all my reason has returned to me, and my openness will convince you of the truth of what I say--George de Croisenois, I love you."