EXPLANATIONS
It remains for us to explain the arrival of De Morville at the Château
de Brévannes, and his presence, as well as that of Paula, in the
châlet in which Bertha and Arnold had been a quarter of an hour before.
De Morville had learned from Madame de Lormoy, his aunt, that Paula had
suddenly set out for Lorraine, in the depth of winter, to pass some time
at the house of M. de Brévannes.
De Morville was completely ignorant that Paula was acquainted with De
Brévannes, and this departure, so sudden and so extraordinary at this
season, bespoke extreme intimacy; besides, he recalled some words, some
allusions of Paula, during his last interview with her at the masked
ball. He believed himself sacrificed, betrayed, or, rather, he could not
find any plausible excuse for Paula's departure, and, in fact, was lost
in conjecture. At the risk of compromising Paula by the improbability of
the excuse for his journey, he set off for Lorraine, resolved on
speaking to Madame de Hansfeld at all risks, so that he could clear up
this mystery.
He reached De Brévannes about four o'clock in the afternoon, stopped in
his carriage at the park gate, which, as we know, was close to the
chalet, and sent his servant to Madame de Hansfeld with a note thus
worded:--
"MADAME,--In consequence of a wager with my aunt, Madame de Lormoy, who,
surprised at your departure and uneasy as to your health, was
exceedingly anxious to know how you were, I have betted that I would go
and inquire of you in person, and return instantly to Paris to satisfy
Madame de Lormoy. If you should be so kind as to take any interest in my
wager, I beg of you to oblige me with the desired information. Not
having the honour of any acquaintance with M. de Brévannes, and having
promised not even to leave my carriage, I await your reply at the park
gate."
Paula received this note at the moment when she was returning from a
walk. It was raining fast, and her first impulse was to take up a cloak
that was at hand (it was that of Bertha, which she had left in the
vestibule), and hasten to De Morville. In the midst of her extreme
anguish she was desirous at all risks of sending De Morville away from a
place in which so tragic an event was about to occur.
When he saw Paula, De Morville alighted from his carriage, entered the
park, took her arm, and made her a thousand tender reproaches as to her
sudden departure, entreating her to give him an explanation of so
singular a decision.
Fearing to be met in the park, although the night was drawing on, Paula
led De Morville to the pavilion in which Bertha and De Hansfeld had been
shut up.
When Bertha heard the door open, from an involuntary impulse of alarm
she took refuge in the inner room of the pavilion, whither Arnold
followed her, and whence he could hear, in the hasty conversation that
followed between De Morville and Paula, that the latter at least had
never forgotten her duty as his wife.
De Morville, reassured by the most tender protestations of Paula, who
urged his immediate departure, had just requested one kiss on his
forehead, when De Brévannes, deceived by the dusk, by Bertha's cloak,
and particularly by his conviction that his wife was in the châlet,
shot the princess.
The next morning the shawl of Iris was found floating in one of the
lakes.
It may be remembered that De Morville had said to Paula that a solemn
oath forced him to avoid every occasion of seeing her. This was another
of the machinations of Iris. Jealous of this new attachment of her
mistress, the gipsy girl had gone to Madame de Morville, and represented
to her a fearful picture of the fierce and suspicious jealousy of the
Prince de Hansfeld, who was, she asserted, capable of destroying M. de
Morville in some murderous stratagem, if he any longer carried on his
liaison with the princess. Madame de Morville, alarmed at the dangers
which threatened her son, made him take an oath, without revealing to
him the cause of her alarm, to think no more of Madame de Hansfeld
unless she became a widow. De Morville, although this oath cost him
dear, saw his adored mother so agitated, so supplicating, and her health
so frail, that he felt a refusal would be a terrible, perchance a mortal
blow. He yielded--promised.
* * * * *
Eighteen months after these events, Bertha Raimond, princess de
Hansfeld, went with Arnold and the old engraver to Germany, where the
three took up their permanent abode.