"so madame has visitors? eh bien, let us, then, behold these naughty visitors, who would sever a husband from his wife!"
from within the red salon came a murmur of speech,—quiet, cordial, colorless,—which showed very plainly that madame had visitors. as the duc de puysange reached out his hand to draw aside the portières, her voice was speaking, courteously, but without vital interest.
"—and afterward," said she, "weather permitting—"
"ah, hélène!" cried a voice that the duke knew almost as well, "how long am i to be held at arm's-length by these petty conventionalities? is candor never to be permitted?"
the half-drawn portière trembled in the duke's grasp. he could see, from where he stood, the inmates of the salon, though their backs were turned. they were his wife and the marquis de soyecourt. the marquis bent eagerly toward the duchesse de puysange, who had risen as he spoke.
for a moment she stayed as motionless as her perplexed husband; then, with a wearied sigh, the duchess sank back into a fauteuil. "you are at liberty to speak," she said, slowly, and with averted glance—"what you choose."
the portière fell; but between its folds the duke still peered into the room, where de soyecourt had drawn nearer to the duke's wife. "there is so little to say," the marquis murmured, "beyond what my eyes have surely revealed a great while ago—that i love you."
"ah!" the duchess cried, with a swift intaking of the breath which was almost a sob. "monsieur, i think you forget that you are speaking to the wife of your kinsman and your friend."
the marquis threw out his hands in a gesture which was theatrical, though the trouble that wrung his countenance seemed very real. he was, as one has said, a slight, fair man, with the face of an ecclesiastic and the eyes of an aging seraph. a dull pang shot through the duke as he thought of the two years' difference in their ages, and of his own tendency to embonpoint, and of the dismal features which calumniated him. yonder porcelain fellow was in appearance so incredibly young!
"do you consider," said the marquis, "that i do not know i act an abominable part? honor, friendship and even decency!—ah, i regret their sacrifice, but love is greater than these petty things!"
the duchess sighed. "for my part," she returned, "i think differently. love is, doubtless, very wonderful and beautiful, but i am sufficiently old-fashioned to hold honor yet dearer. even—even if i loved you, monsieur, there are certain promises, sworn before the altar, that i could not forget." she looked up, candidly, into the flushed, handsome face of the marquis.
"words!" he cried, with vexed impatiency.
"an oath," she answered, sadly,—"an oath that i may not break."
there was hunger in the marquis' eyes, and his hands lifted. their glances met for a breathless moment, and his eyes were tender, and her eyes were resolute, but very, very compassionate.
"i love you!" he said. he said no more than this, but none could doubt he spoke the truth.
"monsieur," the duchess replied, and the depths of her contralto voice were shaken like the sobbing of a violin, and her hands stole upward to her bosom, and clasped the gold heart, as she spoke,—"monsieur, ever since i first knew you, many years ago, at my father's home, i have held you as my friend. you were more kind to the girl, monsieur de soyecourt, than you have been to the woman. yet only since our stay in poictesme yonder have i feared for the result of our friendship. i have tried to prevent this result. i have failed." the duchess lifted the gold heart to her lips, and her golden head bent over it. "monsieur, before god, if i had loved you with my whole being,—if i had loved you all these years,—if the sight of your face were to me to-day the one good thing life holds, and the mere sound of your voice had power to set my heart to beating—beating"—she paused for a little, and then rose, with a sharp breath that shook her slender body visibly,—"even then, my louis, the answer would be the same; and that is,—go!"
"hélène—!" he murmured; and his outstretched hands, which trembled, groped toward her.
"let us have no misunderstanding," she protested, more composedly; "you have my answer."
de soyecourt did not, at mildest, lead an immaculate life. but by the passion that now possessed him the tiny man seemed purified and transfigured beyond masculinity. his face was ascetic in its reverence as he waited there, with his head slightly bowed. "i go," he said, at last, as if picking his way carefully among tumbling words; then bent over her hand, which, she made no effort to withdraw. "ah, my dear!" cried the marquis, staring into her shy, uplifted eyes, "i think i might have made you happy!"
his arm brushed the elbow of the duke as de soyecourt left the salon. the marquis seemed aware of nothing: the misery of both the men, as de puysange reflected, was of a sort to be disturbed by nothing less noticeable than an earthquake.
