George bowed, saying: "Yes, sir."
Then he bowed again ceremoniously, ushered out his wife, who had remained silent, and went out himself with so stiff an air that the notary no longer smiled.
As soon as they got home, Du Roy abruptly closed the door, and throwing his hat onto the bed, said: "You were Vaudrec"s mistress."
Madeleine, who was taking off her veil, turned round with a start, exclaiming: "I? Oh!"
"Yes, you. A man does not leave the whole of his fortune to a woman, unless--"
She was trembling, and was unable to remove the pins fastening the transparent tissue. After a moment"s reflection she stammered, in an agitated tone: "Come, come--you are mad--you are--you are. Did not you, yourself, just now have hopes that he would leave us something?"
George remained standing beside her, following all her emotions like a magistrate seeking to note the least faltering on the part of an accused. He said, laying stress on every word: "Yes, he might have left something to me, your husband--to me, his friend--you understand, but not to you--my wife. The distinction is capital, essential from the point of propriety and of public opinion."
Madeleine in turn looked at him fixedly in the eyes, in profound and singular fashion, as though seeking to read something there, as though trying to discover that unknown part of a human being which we never fathom, and of which we can scarcely even catch rapid glimpses in those moments of carelessness or inattention, which are like doors left open, giving onto the mysterious depths of the mind. She said slowly: "It seems to me, however, that a legacy of this importance would have been looked on as at least equally strange left to you."
He asked abruptly: "Why so?"
She said: "Because--" hesitated, and then continued: "Because you are my husband, and have only known him for a short time, after all--because I have been his friend for a very long while--and because his first will, made during Forestier"s lifetime, was already in my favor."
George began to stride up and down. He said: "You cannot accept."
She replied in a tone of indifference: "Precisely so; then it is not worth while waiting till Sat.u.r.day, we can let Maitre Lamaneur know at once."
He stopped short in front of her, and they again stood for some moments with their eyes riveted on one another, striving to fathom the impenetrable secret of their hearts, to cut down to the quick of their thoughts. They tried to see one another"s conscience unveiled in an ardent and mute interrogation; the struggle of two beings who, living side by side, were always ignorant of one another, suspecting, sniffing round, watching, but never understanding one another to the muddy depths of their souls. And suddenly he murmured to her face, in a low voice: "Come, admit that you were De Vaudrec"s mistress."
She shrugged her shoulders, saying: "You are ridiculous. Vaudrec was very fond of me, very--but there was nothing more--never."
He stamped his foot. "You lie. It is not possible."
She replied, quietly: "It is so, though."
He began to walk up and down again, and then, halting once more, said: "Explain, then, how he came to leave the whole of his fortune to you."
She did so in a careless and disinterested tone, saying: "It is quite simple. As you said just now, he had only ourselves for friends, or rather myself, for he has known me from a child. My mother was a companion at the house of some relatives of his. He was always coming here, and as he had no natural heirs he thought of me. That there was a little love for me in the matter is possible. But where is the woman who has not been loved thus? Why should not such secret, hidden affection have placed my name at the tip of his pen when he thought of expressing his last wishes? He brought me flowers every Monday. You were not at all astonished at that, and yet he did not bring you any, did he? Now he has given me his fortune for the same reason, and because he had no one to offer it to. It would have been, on the contrary, very surprising for him to have left it to you. Why should he have done so? What were you to him?"
She spoke so naturally and quietly that George hesitated. He said, however: "All the same, we cannot accept this inheritance under such conditions. The effect would be deplorable. All the world would believe it; all the world would gossip about it, and laugh at me. My fellow journalists are already only too disposed to feel jealous of me and to attack me. I should have, before anyone, a care for my honor and my reputation. It is impossible for me to allow my wife to accept a legacy of this kind from a man whom public report has already a.s.signed to her as a lover. Forestier might perhaps have tolerated it, but not me."
She murmured, mildly: "Well, dear, do not let us accept it. It will be a million the less in our pockets, that is all."
He was still walking up and down, and began to think aloud, speaking for his wife"s benefit without addressing himself directly to her: "Yes, a million, so much the worse. He did not understand, in making his will, what a fault in tact, what a breach of propriety he was committing. He did not see in what a false, a ridiculous position he would place me.
Everything is a matter of detail in this life. He should have left me half; that would have settled everything."
He sat down, crossed his legs, and began to twist the end of his moustache, as he did in moments of boredom, uneasiness, and difficult reflection. Madeleine took up some embroidery at which she worked from time to time, and said, while selecting her wools: "I have only to hold my tongue. It is for you to reflect."
He was a long time without replying, and then said, hesitatingly: "The world will never understand that Vaudrec made you his sole heiress, and that I allowed it. To receive his fortune in that way would be an acknowledgment on your part of a guilty connection, and on mine of a shameful complaisance. Do you understand now how our acceptance of it would be interpreted? It would be necessary to find a side issue, some clever way of palliating matters. To let it go abroad, for instance, that he had divided the money between us, leaving half to the husband and half to the wife."
She observed: "I do not see how that can be done, since the will is plain."
"Oh, it is very simple. You could leave me half the inheritance by a deed of gift. We have no children, so it is feasible. In that way the mouth of public malevolence would be closed."
She replied, somewhat impatiently: "I do not see any the more how the mouth of public malevolence is to be closed, since the will is there, signed by Vaudrec?"
He said, angrily: "Have we any need to show it and to paste it up on all the walls? You are really stupid. We will say that the Count de Vaudrec left his fortune between us. That is all. But you cannot accept this legacy without my authorization. I will only give it on condition of a division, which will hinder me from becoming a laughing stock."
She looked at him again with a penetrating glance, and said: "As you like. I am agreeable."
Then he rose, and began to walk up and down again. He seemed to be hesitating anew, and now avoided his wife"s penetrating glance. He was saying: "No, certainly not. Perhaps it would be better to give it up altogether. That is more worthy, more correct, more honorable. And yet by this plan nothing could be imagined against us--absolutely nothing.
The most unscrupulous people could only admit things as they were." He paused in front of Madeleine. "Well, then, if you like, darling, I will go back alone to Maitre Lamaneur to explain matters to him and consult him. I will tell him of my scruples, and add that we have arrived at the notion of a division to prevent gossip. From the moment that I accept half this inheritance, it is plain that no one has the right to smile.
It is equal to saying aloud: "My wife accepts because I accept--I, her husband, the best judge of what she may do without compromising herself.
Otherwise a scandal would have arisen.""
Madeleine merely murmured: "Just as you like."
He went on with a flow of words: "Yes, it is all as clear as daylight with this arrangement of a division in two. We inherit from a friend who did not want to make any difference between us, any distinction; who did not wish to appear to say: "I prefer one or the other after death, as I did during life." He liked the wife best, be it understood, but in leaving the fortune equally to both, he wished plainly to express that his preference was purely platonic. And you may be sure that, if he had thought of it, that is what he would have done. He did not reflect. He did not foresee the consequences. As you said very appropriately just now, it was you to whom he offered flowers every week, it is to you he wished to leave his last remembrance, without taking into consideration that--"
She checked him, with a shade of irritation: "All right; I understand.
You have no need to make so many explanations. Go to the notary"s at once."
He stammered, reddening: "You are right. I am off."
He took his hat, and then, at the moment of going out, said: "I will try to settle the difficulty with the nephew for fifty thousand francs, eh?"
She replied, with dignity: "No. Give him the hundred thousand francs he asks. Take them from my share, if you like."
He muttered, shamefacedly: "Oh, no; we will share that. Giving up fifty thousand francs apiece, there still remains to us a clear million." He added: "Good-bye, then, for the present, Made." And he went off to explain to the notary the plan which he a.s.serted had been imagined by his wife.
They signed the next day a deed of gift of five hundred thousand francs, which Madeleine Du Roy abandoned to her husband. On leaving the notary"s office, as the day was fine, George suggested that they should walk as far as the boulevards. He showed himself pleasant and full of attention and affection. He laughed, pleased at everything, while she remained thoughtful and somewhat severe.
It was a somewhat cool autumn day. The people in the streets seemed in a hurry, and walked rapidly. Du Roy led his wife to the front of the shop in which he had so often gazed at the longed-for chronometer. "Shall I stand you some jewelry?" said he.
She replied, indifferently: "Just as you like."
They went in, and he asked: "What would you prefer--a necklace, a bracelet, or a pair of earrings?"
The sight of the trinkets in gold, and precious stones overcame her studied coolness, and she scanned with kindling and inquisitive eyes the gla.s.s cases filled with jewelry. And, suddenly moved by desire, said: "That is a very pretty bracelet."
It was a chain of quaint pattern, every link of which had a different stone set in it.
George inquired: "How much is this bracelet?"
"Three thousand francs, sir," replied the jeweler.
"If you will let me have it for two thousand five hundred, it is a bargain."
The man hesitated, and then replied: "No, sir; that is impossible."
Du Roy went on: "Come, you can throw in that chronometer for fifteen hundred; that will make four thousand, which I will pay at once. Is it agreed? If not, I will go somewhere else."
The jeweler, in a state of perplexity, ended by agreeing, saying: "Very good, sir."