“Be it so, father! Choose among all these houses the very strictest, and
send me there. Whatever I may have to suffer there, it will be
better than being here, as long as I see in the place of my mother
that--woman!”
“Wretch!” howled the count.
He was suffocating. By a violent effort he tore off his cravat; and,
conscious that he was no longer master of himself, he cried to his
daughter,--
“Leave me, leave me! or I answer for nothing.” She hesitated a moment.
Then, casting upon the countess one more look full of defiance, she
slowly went out of the room.