The door had closed.
He rose slowly from a chair near the fire, and walked towards her.
"_Dieu_! Jack! Why, what means this?" she cried in amazement, when she recognised him.
"You have company to-night," observed the artist, without offering to shake hands. "I thought it probable that, under the circ.u.mstances, you would not grant an interview to an old friend."
"How absurd! Why, you must know you are always a welcome guest here,"
and she beamed upon him one of her sweetest smiles.
As she stood before him in the subdued light he gazed upon her in hesitation. Her costume was perfect, enhanced as it was by a sparkling diamond star in her hair and a necklet of exquisite brilliants. Her dress was of white silk, with very high sleeves, mounted in a sort of ball at the shoulder, hanging draperies from the arms representing wings, which expanded as she moved, and silver bands around a very high waist and under and across each arm.
"The welcome you accord me is somewhat premature," he observed meaningly. "No doubt you have a morbid satisfaction in seeing the man who is under your thrall--the miserable, deluded fool who stained his hands with a terrible crime for your sake, yet you--"
"Why refer to that horrid affair?", she asked, shuddering slightly.
"Let"s forget it."
"No doubt you wish that dark page in your history to be closed," he said ominously; "but, strangely enough, it is upon that very subject I have sought this interview."
"What do you want, pray?" she asked quickly.
"Merely to introduce two persons to you--old friends."
"Old friends!" she echoed. "Who are they?"
For answer, Egerton crossed the apartment and opened the door communicating with an ante-chamber. As he did so two persons advanced into the library.
"Gabrielle! Hugh!" she gasped, a look of sudden terror overspreading her countenance.
The tableau was well arranged and striking.
Valerie"s glance shifted in alarm from one to the other, while her three visitors looked upon her in silence, with expressions of calm, confident determination.
Hugh Trethowen"s countenance was careworn and pale; his whole appearance was that of a man weighed down by profound grief. The sufferings and privations had aged him considerably, yet there were in his face traces of some new feeling. His mouth, as a rule so serious, actually smiled; his look had more animation than it was wont to have, and altogether he had somewhat about him which was at once sad, malevolent, and self-satisfied.
"I--I did not expect this pleasure," the adventuress stammered, with bitter sarcasm, without asking them to be seated.
The icy reception did not astonish them. They were fully prepared to meet the pa.s.sionate wrath which they knew would be stirred within her.
"We are unwelcome, no doubt," said Gabrielle Debriege, with a cynical smile. "Nevertheless, it is a long time, madame, since you and I met."
"And what have I to do with you, pray?" cried Hugh"s wife, drawing herself up to her full height, and standing erect before them. "It is gross impudence for a woman of such reputation as yourself to claim my acquaintance. I do not forget what you were in Paris."
"Oh, indeed!" replied mademoiselle. "Before you asperse my character, think of your own."
"Who dares to defame me?" she asked indignantly.
"I do," declared mademoiselle.
This bold reply caused the colour to flee from her cheeks, for the object of their visit began to dawn upon her.
"I have come here, madame," continued Gabrielle, "to bring your lost husband before you, so that he may hear the true story of your perfidy; I have--"
"By Heaven! I"ll strangle you!" Valerie hissed, stepping forward threateningly, with clenched hands and flashing eyes.
The two women were, however, separated by the writing-table.
"First, listen to what I have to say," the other replied coolly. "I alone know the truth, and it is useless to protest your innocence or deny your guilt--"
"The truth of what?"
"Victor has confessed," said Gabrielle, without answering the question.
"Confessed!" she repeated, betraying increased alarm.
"By your treachery he was sent to penal servitude, but your plan proved rather too ingenious, for, strangely enough, he denounced you to a fellow-convict, who chanced to be your husband!"
Valerie glanced sharply at Hugh, with unwavering gaze.
"Yes," he said, in a tone of disgust, speaking for the first time.
"Your lover told me the horrible story, how--like myself--he had been tricked and wronged by you. I can scarcely believe that I ever loved a woman so vile and despicable, so depraved by sin as yourself."
"Vile and despicable!" she echoed, in anger. "What have I done that you, too, should turn against me?"
"If you forget," interposed Gabrielle, "I"ll refresh your memory."
"I desire to hear none of the vilifying denunciations. Let me get back to my guests."
"No," said Egerton, turning the key in the door, and placing it in his pocket. "You don"t leave here yet. We have not finished."
She turned upon him like an infuriated animal brought to bay.
"You," she cried, scanning him from head to toe in exasperation. "Do you consider it wise for you--of all men--to interfere with my liberty?
Remember the affair of the Boulevard Haussmann!"
The speech had its desired effect. The artist shrank from her.
"At the same time," exclaimed Gabrielle, addressing her, "remember there are other sentences in the Penal Code besides imprisonment."
"I don"t understand you," answered Valerie, giving her shoulders a shrug indicative of unconcern.
"There is death for those who take the lives of their fellow-creatures."
The adventuress shuddered. Then resuming her air of indifference, said--
"You are talking enigmas."
"You wish me to speak more plainly. Very well. Perhaps you have forgotten that night we met at my rooms in the Boulevard St. Michel, when, after your taunts and threats, I prophesied that a day would come when I would hold your life in my hands, and compel you to beg for mercy. That day has dawned."