“Don’t you say any thing about what I told you,” M. Saint Pavin
recommended to them.
M. de Tregars made no answer. He had the contracted features and
tightly-drawn lips of a man who is maturing a grave determination,
which, once taken, will be irrevocable.
Once in the street, and when Maxence had opened the carriage-door,
“We are going to separate here,” he told him in that brief tone of
voice which reveals a settled plan. “I know enough now to venture
to call at M. de Thaller’s. There only shall I be able to see how
to strike the decisive blow. Return to the Rue St. Gilles, and
relieve your mother’s and sister’s anxiety. You shall see me during
the evening, I promise you.”
And, without waiting for an answer, he jumped into the cab, which
started off.
But it was not to the Rue St. Gilles that Maxence went. He was
anxious, first, to see Mlle. Lucienne, to tell her the events of
that day, the busiest of his existence; to tell her his discoveries,
his surprises, his anxieties, and his hopes.
To his great surprise, he failed to find her at the Hotel des
Folies. She had gone riding at three o’clock, M. Fortin told him,
and had not yet returned; but she could not be much longer, as it
was already getting dark. Maxence went out again then, to see if
he could not meet her. He had walked a little way along the
Boulevard, when, at some distance off, on the Place du Chateau
d’Eau, he thought he noticed an unusual bustle. Almost
immediately he heard shouts of terror. Frightened people were
running in all directions; and right before him a carriage, going
at full gallop, passed like a flash.
But, quick as it had passed, he had time to recognize Mlle.
Lucienne, pale, and clinging desperately to the seat. Wild with
fear, he started after it as fast as he could run. It was clear
that the driver had no control over his horses. A policeman who
tried to stop them was knocked down. Ten steps farther, the
hind-wheel of the carriage, catching the wheel of a heavy wagon,
broke to splinters; and Mlle. Lucienne was thrown into the street,
whilst the driver fell over on the sidewalk.