"Or the Marquis de Courtornieu," interrupted the abbe, with a warning glance at Jean.
A wrathful light gleamed for an instant in the eyes of Maurice; but it vanished almost immediately, and he shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
"Nonsense," said he, "I do not wish to trouble myself any more about the past. My father is well again, that is the main thing. We can easily find some way of getting him safely across the frontier. Marie-Anne and I, by our devotion, will strive to make him forget that my rashness almost cost him his life. He is so good, so indulgent to the faults of others. We will take up our residence in Italy or in Switzerland. You will accompany us, Monsieur l"Abbe, and you also, Jean. As for you, corporal, it is decided that you belong to our family."
Nothing could be more horrible than to see this man, upon whose life such a terrible blight was about to fall, so bright and full of hope and confidence.
The impression produced upon Jean and the abbe was so terrible, that, in spite of their efforts, it showed itself in their faces; and Maurice remarked their agitation.
"What is the matter?" he inquired, in evident surprise.
They trembled, hung their heads, but did not say a word.
The unfortunate man"s astonishment changed to a vague, inexpressible fear.
He enumerated all the misfortunes which could possibly have befallen him.
"What has happened?" he asked, in a stifled voice. "My father is safe, is he not? You said that my mother would desire nothing, if I were with her again. Is it Marie-Anne----"
He hesitated.
"Courage, Maurice," murmured the abbe. "Courage!"
The stricken man tottered as if about to fall; his face grew whiter than the plastered wall against which he leaned for support.
"Marie-Anne is dead!" he exclaimed.
Jean and the abbe were silent.
"Dead!" Maurice repeated--"and no secret voice warned me! Dead! when?"
"She died only last night," replied Jean.
Maurice rose.
"Last night?" said he. "In that case, then, she is still here. Where?
upstairs?"
And without waiting for any response, he darted toward the staircase so quickly that neither Jean nor the abbe had time to intercept him.
With three bounds he reached the chamber; he walked straight to the bed, and with a firm hand turned back the sheet that hid the face of the dead.
He recoiled with a heart-broken cry.
Was this indeed the beautiful, the radiant Marie-Anne, whom he had loved to his own undoing! He did not recognize her.
He could not recognize these distorted features, this face swollen and discolored by poison, these eyes which were almost concealed by the purple swelling around them.
When Jean and the priest entered the room they found him standing with head thrown back, eyes dilated with terror, and rigid arm extended toward the corpse.
"Maurice," said the priest, gently, "be calm. Courage!"
He turned with an expression of complete bewilderment upon his features.
"Yes," he faltered, "that is what I need--courage!"
He staggered; they were obliged to support him to an arm-chair.
"Be a man," continued the priest; "where is your energy? To live, is to suffer."
He listened, but did not seem to comprehend.
"Live!" he murmured, "why should I desire to live since she is dead?"
The dread light of insanity glittered in his dry eyes. The abbe was alarmed.
"If he does not weep, he will lose his reason!" he thought.
And in an imperious voice, he said:
"You have no right to despair thus; you owe a sacred duty to your child."
He recoiled with a heart-broken cry.
The recollection which had given Marie-Anne strength to hold death at bay for a moment, saved Maurice from the dangerous torpor into which he was sinking. He trembled as if he had received an electric shock, and springing from his chair:
"That is true," he cried. "Take me to my child."
"Not just now, Maurice; wait a little."
"Where is it? Tell me where it is."
"I cannot; I do not know."
An expression of unspeakable anguish stole over the face of Maurice, and in a husky voice he said:
"What! you do not know! Did she not confide in you?"
"No. I suspected her secret. I alone----"
"You, alone! Then the child is dead, perhaps. Even if it is living, who can tell me where it is?"
"We shall undoubtedly find something that will give us a clew."
"You are right," faltered the wretched man. "When Marie-Anne knew that her life was in danger, she would not have forgotten her child. Those who cared for her in her last moments must have received some message for me. I wish to see those who watched over her. Who were they?"
The priest averted his face.