Monsieur de Camors -- Volume 3

with icy sweat, says to himself, "It was only a dream!" This was, in some degree, the impression which Camors felt on awaking, the morning after his arrival

ons, had a moment's respite, and drank in, almost without alloy, the new calm that surrounde

ordinary interest. From time to time a deep, sad sigh broke from his oppressed chest; he passed his hand over his brow as if to efface the importunate images. He sat down amid the quaintly clipped boxwood which ornamented the garden in the antique fashion, called his son again to him, held him between his knees, interroga

id. "I thank you for it. He will b

his voice, that she replied, stammering with e

hose lips were slightly

" and rapid

o it. The next day, and the succeeding ones, they practised the same reserve, though very far from suspecting the fatal circumstances which rendered this souvenir so painful to M. de Camors. They thought it only natural he

Campvallon and himself, probably occasioned by the General's

hem a confirmation of the truth they before suspected; but his prompt return, his new

lks alone. Sometimes he took his son with him, as if by chance. He sometimes attempted a li

o are a fairy, wave your wand over Reuill

" said she, laughing and shaking her head;

ittle one," said Madame de Tecle to he

you he is really courting me again. Why, I am ignorant; b

ery pretext, to recall the souvenirs of the past, common to them both. It seemed he wished

n uncertain person; they little trusted a change so sudden, the reason of which they could not comprehend. They feared it was some passin

ing new-as it were, a tender humility; they said that in other years he had been polite, but this year he was angelic. Even the inanimate things, the woods, the t

wounded, but unconquered. In trampling under his feet all moral belief which binds the vulgar, he had reserved honor as an inviolable limit. Then, under the empire of his passions, he said to himself that, after all, honor, like all the rest,

of his young wife, in the daily miracles of nature, in the harmonies of the heavens, and probably already in the depths of his thoughts-in God. In the midst of this approach toward a new life he hesitated. Madame de Campvallon was there. He still loved her vaguely. Above all, he could not abandon her without

ad only visited Campvallon at long intervals, as politeness compelled him. The Marquise wished to keep him for dinner, as she had no guests with her. She pressed him so warmly that, reproaching himself all the time, he consented. He never saw her without pain. She always brought back to him those terrible memories, but also that terrible intoxication. She had never been more beautiful. Her deep mourning embellished yet more her languishing and regal grace; it made her pale complexion yet more fair, and it heightened the brilliancy of her look. She had the air of a young tragic queen, or of an allegory of Night. In t

e so happy!

ot so?" s

his appears harder, now that I am free. If you had remained free-w

I am not so! Wh

d with her breath, more th

possible?

he de

er fixed look, caressing

beg of you!" m

world and its laws exist no longer for us; that there is no other good, no other bad for us, but our happi

amors, and the murmur of her la

led her, sprang up,

is only a trial, I hope; but, trial o

ickly drew

t, I feel it, and I-I am only the wretched object of your pity, or of your caprice

ith his hau

t," he said. "So you

er superb arm was stretched

th your o

d shall

ing with the desire to fall at your feet. Acknowledge only t

a savag

ne, "You are right, I am not mad, I did not wish to try you; I am jealous, I am betrayed, and I shall r

the salon and the chateau; he reached the railway s

rrible there

ined there three days. She had returned only that morning. He himself arrived late in the evening. He thought he ob

not seen each other since the General's death. This event, which should have caused Madame de la Roche-Jugan to reproach herself, had simply exasperated her. Her bad action had recoiled upon herself. The death of M. Campvallon had finally destroyed her last hopes, which she had believed she could have founded on the anger and desperation of the old man. Since that time she was animated against her nephew and the Marquise with

rself at the door of the Marquise, orders would have been given not to admit her. This affront made her angrier still. She was still a prey to the violence of her wrath when she received a vi

for you also I weep-for you will yet be more u

ou, Madame," answered

-" Listen, my dear! this is a duty of conscience which I comply with. You see, an honest creature like you merits a better fate; and your mot

e, that I do not

me!-it is impossible that all this

me," said Madame de Camo

o, I have nothing to say. But there are persons, in that case,

moment ago, Madame," sai

early. I know my nephew better than you will ever know him; and the other also. Notwithstanding you say so, you do not kn

explain it more fully. She made her understand that she would inform M. de Camors of the affair in case of need, and that he would hold his cousin Sigismund responsible. Terrified in her turn, Madame de la Roche-Jugan judged the best method was to destroy M. de Camors in the estimation of Madame de Tecle. She related what had been told her by Vautrot, being careful not to compromise herself in the recital. She informed her of the presence o

t she might herself interrogate him. Madame de Tecle, affecting an i

so to speak, in the same reflections, the same reasonings, and in the same terrors. They went over, in their memories, all the incidents of the life of Camors-all his faults; and, under the shadow of the monstrous action imputed to him, his faults took a criminal character which they were surprised they had not seen before. They discovered a seri

ut he knew that his servant, without thinking of harm, had spoken of his visit to Madame de Campvallon, and he attributed the coldness and embarrassment of the two women to this fact. He was less disquieted at this, because he was resolved to keep them entirely safe.

of them troubled him. Nevertheless, for many years he had not felt his heart so light. This wicked tie once broken, it seemed as if he had resumed, with his liberty, his youth and virtue. He walked and played a part of the day with his little son. After

ation she manifested, at the disquietude which her face indi

ful one; entered the minds of both the

little son in charge of her mother. They had only to cross the garden to find themselves on the edge of the wood which almost touched their dwelling, and which stretched to the old fields inherited from the Comte de Tecle. The intention of Camors in seeking this tete-a-tete was to confide to his wife the decisive determination he had taken of delivering up to her absolutely and without reserve his heart and life, and to enjoy in these solitudes his first taste of true happiness. Surprised at the

well have dispensed with. I forgot to w

sked she

e intimate with each other, you and I," he added, laughing, "I shall

t the Countess felt her heart half comforted from the oppression which had weighed it down. She gave hers

renewed all her terrors. M. de Camors, in his turn, had become absent and visibly preoccupied with some grave care. He spoke with an effort, made half replies, meditated; then stopped quickly to look

occupied them both. At the moment when Madame Camors was t

f stealthy steps. These noises always ceased on his stopping, and began again the moment he resumed his walk. He thought, a moment later, he saw the shadow of a man pass r

against the life of Madame de Camors, the passionate and unbridled character of this woman, soon prese

ith the infliction of her vengeance; but she had said-he then remembered-that the h

which he believed at her side, but he could not hide from her his agitatio

s walk a little faster,

return to the chateau by the public

topped the Countess to look at the pretext of this excursion. This was the rocky wall of the deep excavation of a marl-pit, long since abandoned. The arbutus-trees of fantastic shape which covered the summit of these rock

compelled either to make a long detour or to cross the deepest part of the excavation by means of the trunks of two great trees, which had been cut in half, lashed toge

d recently at her husband's orders. After they had gazed in silence a moment into the

o cross that?" s

," said Camors; "I shall be

osely in the moonlight, he thought her face was s

hat you had m

n almost violent grasp. The unhappy woman uttered a piercing shriek, made a gesture as if to defend herself, repelling his touch; then, running wildly across the bridge, she rushed into the woods. M. de Camors, astounded, alarmed, not knowing how to interpret his wife's str

war

ed toward them from the depth of the thicket, and the next instant Camors recognized Madame de Tecle. She ran,

l one of us

d him; for an instant he buried his face in his hands; the

ok me for

moment of

sudden violence, "why do you stay here,

other dragging her daughter. The next moment th

etween the woods and the bridge; then, stopping short, with fixed eyes, he became lost in thought, and stood as motionless as the trunk of the tree against which he lea