the apartment was exactly as described by mme. cadelle. in thedark and narrow ante-chamber, three doors opened, - on the left,that of the dining-room; in the centre, that of a parlor andbedroom which communicated; on the right, that of the closet. m.
de tregars slipped in noiselessly through the latter, and at oncerecognized that mme. zelie had not deceived him, and that he wouldsee and hear every thing that went on in the parlor. he saw theyoung woman walk into it. she laid her provisions down upon thetable, and called,"vincent!"the former cashier of the mutual credit appeared at once, comingout of the bedroom.
he was so changed, that his wife and children would have hesitatedin recognizing him. he had cut off his beard, pulled out almostthe whole of his thick eye-brows, and covered his rough andstraight hair under a brown curly wig, he wore patent-leather boots,wide pantaloons, and one of those short jackets of rough material,and with broad sleeves which french elegance has borrowed fromenglish stable-boys. he tried to appear calm, careless, and playful;but the contraction of his lips betrayed a horrible anguish, andhis look had the strange mobility of the wild beasts' eye, when,almost at bay, they stop for a moment, listening to the barking ofthe hounds.
"i was beginning to fear that you would disappoint me," he said tomme. zelie.
"it took me some time to buy your breakfast.""and is that all that kept you?""the porter detained me too, to hand me a letter, in which i foundone for you. here it is.""a letter!" exclaimed vincent favoral.
and, snatching it from her, he tore off the envelope. but he hadscarcely looked over it, when he crushed it in his hand, exclaiming,"it is monstrous! it is a mean, infamous treason!" he wasinterrupted by a violent ringing of the door-bell.
"who can it be?" stammered mme. cadelle.
"i know who it is," replied the former cashier. "open, open quick."she obeyed; and almost at once a woman walked into the parlor,wearing a cheap, black woolen dress. with a sudden gesture, shethrew off her veil; and m. de tregars recognized the baroness dethaller.
"leave us!" she said to mme. zelie, in a tone which one would hardlydare to assume towards a bar-maid.
the other felt indignant.
"what, what!" she began. " i am in my own house here.""leave us!" repeated m. favoral with a threatening gesture.
"go, go!"she went out but only to take refuge by the side of m. de tregars.
"you hear how they treat me," she said in a hoarse voice.
he made no answer. all his attention was centred upon the parlor.
the baroness de thaller and the former cashier were standingopposite each other, like two adversaries about to fight a duel.
"i have just read your letter," began vincent favoral.
coldly the baroness said, "ah!""it is a joke, i suppose.""not at all.""you refuse to go with me?""positively.""and yet it was all agreed upon. i have acted wholly under yoururgent, pressing advice. how many times have you repeated to methat to live with your husband had become an intolerable tormentto you! how many times have you sworn to me that you wished to bemine alone, begging me to procure a large sum of money, and to flywith you!""i was in earnest at the time. i have discovered, at the lastmoment, that it would be impossible for me thus to abandon mycountry, my daughter, my friends.""we can take cesarine with us.""do not insist."he was looking at her with a stupid, gloomy gaze.
"then," he stammered, "those tears, those prayers, those oaths!""i have reflected.""it is not possible! if you spoke the truth, you would not be here.""i am here to make you understand that we must give up projectswhich cannot be realized. there are some social conventionalitieswhich cannot be torn up. as if he scarcely understood what shesaid, he repeated,"social conventionalities!"and suddenly falling at mme. de thaller's feet, his head thrownback, and his hands clasped together,"you lie!" he said. "confess that you lie, and that it is a finaltrial which you are imposing upon me. or else have you, then,never loved me? that's impossible! i would not believe you if youwere to say so. a woman who does not love a man cannot be to himwhat you have been to me: she does not give herself up thus sojoyously and so completely. have you, then, forgotten every thing?
is it possible that you do not remember those divine evenings in therue de cirque? - those nights, the mere thought of which fires mybrain, and consumes my blood."he was horrible to look at, horrible and ridiculous at the sametime. as he wished to take mme. de thaller's hands, she steppedback, and he followed her, dragging himself on his knees.
"where could you find," he continued, "a man to worship you like me,with an ardent, absolute, blind, mad passion? with what can youreproach me? have i not sacrificed to you without a murmur everything that a man can sacrifice here below, - fortune, family, honor,- to supply your extravagance, to anticipate your slightest fancies,to give you gold to scatter by the handful. did i not leave my ownfamily struggling with poverty. i would have snatched bread frommy children's mouths in order to purchase roses to scatter underyour footsteps. and for years did ever a word from me betray thesecret of our love? what have i not endured? you deceived me. iknew it, and i said nothing. upon a word from you i stepped asidebefore him whom your caprice made happy for a day. you told me,'steal!' and i stole. you told me, 'kill!' and i tried to kill.""fly. a man who has twelve hundred thousand francs in gold,bank-notes, and good securities, can always get along.""and my wife and children?""maxence is old enough to help his mother. gilberte will find ahusband: depend upon it. besides, what's to prevent you fromsending them money?""they would refuse it.""you will always be a fool, my dear!"to vincent favoral's first stupor and miserable weakness nowsucceeded a terrible passion. all the blood had left his face:
his eyes was flashing.
then," he resumed, "all is really over?""of course.""then i have been duped like the rest, - like that poor marquis detregars, whom you had made mad also. but he, at least saved hishonor; whereas i - and i have no excuse; for i should have known.
i knew that you were but the bait which the baron de thaller heldout to his victims."he waited for an answer; but she maintained a contemptuous silence.
"then you think," he said with a threatening laugh, "that it willall end that way?""what can you do?""there is such a thing as justice, i imagine, and judges too. i cangive myself up, and reveal every thing."she shrugged her shoulders.
"that would be throwing yourself into the wolf's mouth for nothing,"she said. "you know better than any one else that my precautionsare well enough taken to defy any thing you can do or say. i havenothing to fear.""are you quite sure of that?""trust to me," she said with a smile of perfect security.
the former cashier of the mutual credit made a terrible gesture; but,checking himself at once, he seized one of the baroness's hands.
she withdrew it quickly, however, and, in an accent of insurmountabledisgust,"enough, enough!" she said.
in the adjoining closet marius de tregars could feel mme. zeliecadelle shuddering by his side.
"what a wretch that woman is!" she murmured; "and he - what a basecoward!"the former cashier remained prostrated striking the floor with hishead.
"and you would forsake me," he groaned, "when we are united by apast such as ours! how could you replace me? where would you finda slave so devoted to your every wish?"the baroness was getting impatient.
"stop!" she interrupted, - "stop these demonstrations as uselessas ridiculous."this time he did start up, as if lashed with a whip and, doublelocking the door which communicated with the ante-chamber, he putthe key in his pocket; and, with a step as stiff and mechanical asthat of an automaton, he disappeared in the sleeping-room.
"he is going for a weapon," whispered mme. cadelle.
it was also what marius thought.
"run down quick," he said to mme. zelie. "in a cab standingopposite no.25, you will find mlle. gilberte favoral waiting. lether come at once."and, rushing into the parlor,"fly!" he said to mme. thaller.
but she was as petrified by this apparition.
"m. de tregars!""yes, yes, me. but hurry and go!"and he pushed her into the closet.
it was but time. vincent favoral reappeared upon the threshold ofthe bedroom. but, if it was a weapon he had gone for, it was notfor the one which marius and mme. cadelle supposed. it was a bundleof papers which he held in his hand. seeing m. de tregars there,instead of mme. de thaller, an exclamation of terror and surpriserose to his lips. he understood vaguely what must have taken place;that the man who stood there must have been concealed in the glasscloset, and that he had assisted the baroness to escape.
"ah the miserable wretch!" he stammered with a tongue made thickby passion, "the infamous wretch! she has betrayed me; she hassurrendered me. i am lost!"mastering the most terrible emotion he had ever felt,"no, no! you shall not be surrendered," uttered m. de tregars.
collecting all the energy that the devouring passion which hadblasted his existence had left him, the former cashier of themutual credit took one or two steps forward.
"who are you, then?" he asked.
"do you not know me? i am the son of that unfortunate marquis detregars of whom you spoke a moment since. i am lucienne's brother."like a man who has received a stunning blow, vincent favoral sankheavily upon a chair.
"he knows all," he groaned.
"yes, all!""you must hate me mortally.""i pity you."the old cashier had reached that point when all the faculties, afterbeing strained to their utmost limits, suddenly break down, whenthe strongest man gives up, and weeps like a child.
"ah, i am the most wretched of villains!" he exclaimed.
he had hid his face in his hands; and in one second, - as it happens,they say, to the dying on the threshold of eternity, - he reviewedhis entire existence.
"and yet," he said, "i had not the soul of a villain. i wanted toget rich; but honestly, by labor, and by rigid economy. and ishould have succeeded. i had a hundred and fifty thousand francsof my own when i met the baron de thaller. alas! why did i meethim? 'twas he who first gave me to understand that it was stupidto work and save, when, at the bourse, with moderate luck, one mightbecome a millionaire in six months."he stopped, shook his head, and suddenly,"do you know the baron de thaller?" he asked. and, without givingmarius time to answer,"he is a german," he went on, "a prussian. his father was acab-driver in berlin, and his mother waiting-maid in a brewery. atthe age of eighteen, he was compelled to leave his country, owingto some petty swindle, and came to take up his residence in paris.
he found employment in the office of a stock-broker, and was livingvery poorly, when he made the acquaintance of a young laundressnamed affrays, who had for a lover a very wealthy gentleman, themarquis de tregars, whose weakness was to pass himself off for apoor clerk. affrays and thaller were well calculated to agree.
they did agree, and formed an association, - she contributing herbeauty; he, his genius for intrigue; both, their corruption andtheir vices. soon after they met, she gave birth to a child, adaughter; whom she intrusted to some poor gardeners at louveciennes,with the firm and settled intention to leave her there forever.
and yet it was upon this daughter, whom they firmly hoped never tosee again, that the two accomplices were building their fortune.
"it was in the name of that daughter that affrays wrungconsiderable sums from the marquis de tregars. as soon as thallerand she found themselves in possession of six hundred thousandfrancs, they dismissed the marquis, and got married. already, atthat time, thaller had taken the title of baron, and lived in somestyle. but his first speculations were not successful. therevolution of 1848 finished his ruin, and he was about being expelledfrom the bourse, when he found me on his way, - i, poor fool, whowas going about everywhere, asking how i could advantageously investmy hundred and fifty thousand francs."he was speaking in a hoarse voice, shaking his clinched fist in theair, doubtless at the baron de thaller.
"unfortunately," he resumed, "it was only much later that idiscovered all this. at the moment, m. de thaller dazzled me. hisfriends, saint pavin and the bankers jottras, proclaimed him thesmartest and the most honest man in france. still i would not havegiven my money, if it had not been for the baroness. the first timethat i was introduced to her, and that she fixed upon me her greatblack eyes, i felt myself moved to the deepest recesses of my soul.
in order to see her again, i invited her, together with her husbandand her husband's friends, to dine with me, by the side of my wifeand children. she came. her husband made me sign every thing hepleased; but, as she went off, she pressed my hand."he was still shuddering at the recollection of it, the poor fellow!
"the next day," he went on, "i handed to thaller all i had in theworld; and, in exchange, he gave me the position of cashier in themutual credit, which he had just founded. he treated me like aninferior, and did not admit me to visit his family. but i didn'tcare: the baroness had permitted me to see her again, and almostevery afternoon i met her at the tuileries; and i had made bold totell her that i loved her to desperation. at last, one evening,she consented to make an appointment with me for the secondfollowing day, in an apartment which i bad rented.
"the day before i was to meet her, and whilst i was beside myselfwith joy, the baron de thaller requested me to assist him, bymeans of certain irregular entries, to conceal a deficit arisingfrom unsuccessful speculations. how could i refuse a man, whom,as i thought, i was about to deceive grossly! i did as he wished.
the next day mme. de thaller became my mistress; and i was a lostman."was he trying to exculpate himself? was he merely yielding to thatimperious sentiment, more powerful than the will or the reason,which impels the criminal to reveal the secret which oppresses him?
"from that day," he went on, "began for me the torment of thatdouble existence which i underwent for years. i had given to mymistress all i had in the world; and she was insatiable. shewanted money always, any way, and in heaps. she made me buy thehouse in the rue du cirque for our meetings; and, between thedemands of the husband and those of the wife, i was almost insane.
i drew from the funds of the mutual credit as from an inexhaustiblemine; and, as i foresaw that some day must come when all would bediscovered, i always carried about me a loaded revolver, withwhich to blow out my brains when they came to arrest me."and he showed to marius the handle of a revolverprotruding from his pocket.
"and if only she had been faithful to me!" he continued, becomingmore and more animated. "but what have i not endured! when themarquis de tregars returned to paris, and they set about defraudinghim of his fortune, she did not hesitate a moment to become hismistress again. she used to tell me, 'what a fool you are! alli want is his money. i love no one but you.' but after his deathshe took others. she made use of our house in the rue du cirquefor purposes of dissipation for herself and her daughter cesarine.
and i - miserable coward that i was! - i suffered all, so muchdid i tremble to lose her, so much did i fear to be weaned fromthe semblance of love with which she paid my fearful sacrifices.
and now she would betray me, forsake me! for every thing that hastaken place was suggested by her in order to procure a sum wherewithto fly to america. it was she who imagined the wretched comedywhich i played, so as to throw upon myself the whole responsibility.
m. de thaller has had millions for his share: i have only had twelvehundred thousand francs."violent nervous shudders shook his frame: his face became purple.
he drew himself up, and, brandishing the letters which he held inhis hand,"but all is not over!" he exclaimed. "there are proofs whichneither the baron nor his wife know that i have. i have the proofof the infamous swindle of which the marquis de tregars was thevictim. i have the proof of the farce got up by m. de thaller andmyself to defraud the stockholders of the mutual credit!
"what do you hope for?"he was laughing a stupid laugh.
"i? i shall go and hide myself in some suburb of paris, and writeto affrays to come. she knows that i have twelve hundred thousandfrancs. she will come; and she will keep coming as long as i haveany money. and when i have no more:
he stopped short, starting back, his arms outstretched as if torepel a terrifying apparition. mlle. gilberte had just appearedat the door.
"my daughter!" stammered the wretch. "gilberte!""the marquise de tregars," uttered marius.
an inexpressible look of terror and anguish convulsed the featuresof vincent favoral: he guessed that it was the end.
"what do you want with me?" he stammered.
"the money that you have stolen, father," replied the girl in aninexorable tone of voice,-" the twelve hundred thousand francs whichyou have here, then the proofs which are in your hands, and, finallyyour weapons."he was trembling from head to foot.
"take away my money!" he said. "why, that would be compelling meto give myself up! do you wish to see me in prison?""the disgrace would fall back upon your children, sir," said m. detregars. "we shall, on the contrary, do every thing in the worldto enable you to evade the pursuit of the police.""well, yes, then. but to-morrow i must write to affrays: i mustsee her!""you have lost your mind, father," said mlle. gilberte. "come, doas i ask you."he drew himself up to his full height.
"and suppose i refuse?"but it was the last effort of his will. he yielded, though notwithout an agonizing struggle and gave up to his daughter themoney, the proofs and the arms. and as she was walking away,leaning on m. de tregars' arm,"but send me your mother, at least," he begged. "she willunderstand me: she will not be without pity. she is my wife: lether come quick. i will not, i can not remain alone."
