“Not a widow? Do you know what Count Ville-Handry is doing at this
moment? He is beseeching his stockholders to relieve him from the
effects of his mismanagement. If they refuse him, he will be brought up
in court, and tried as a defaulter. Well, I tell you! they will refuse
him; for among the largest stockholders there are three who belong to
me: I have bribed them to refuse. What do you think the count will do
when he finds himself dishonored and disgraced? I will tell you again;
for I have seen him write his will, and load his revolver.”
But the door of the outer room was opened. She turned as pale as death
itself, and, seizing Daniel’s arm violently, she whispered,--
“Listen!”
Heavy steps were heard in the adjoining room, then--nothing more!
“It is he!” she whispered again. “Our fate is hanging in the scales”--
A shot was heard, which made the window-panes rattle, and cut her
short. She was seized with spasms from head to foot, but, making a great
effort, she cried out,--
“Free at last, Daniel; we are free!”
And, rushing to the door, she opened it.
She opened it, but instantly shut it again violently, and uttered a
terrible cry.
On the threshold stood Count Ville-Handry, his features terribly
distorted, a smoking revolver in his hand.
“No,” he said, “Sarah, no, you are not free!”
Livid, and with eyeballs starting from their sockets, the wretched woman
had shrunk back to a door which opened from the dining-room directly
into her chamber.
She was not despairing yet.
It was evident she was looking for one of those almost incredible
excuses which are sometimes accepted by credulous old men when violent
passions seize them in their dotage.
She abandoned the thought, however, when the count stepped forward, and
thus allowed Papa Ravinet to be seen behind him.
“Malgat!” she cried,--“Malgat!”
She held out her hands before her as if to push aside a spectre that
had suddenly risen from the grave, and was now opening its arms to seize
her, and carry her off.
In the meantime Malgat came forward, with Henrietta leaning on Mrs.
Bertolle’s arm.
“She also,” muttered Sarah,--“she too!”
The terrible truth broke at last upon her mind: she saw the snare in
which she had been caught, and felt that she was lost. Then turning to
Daniel, she said to him,--
“Poor man! Who has made you do this? It was not in your loyal heart to
plan such treachery against a woman. Are you mad? And do you not see,
that for the privilege of being loved by me as I love you, and were it
but for a day, Malgat would again rob his employers, and the count would
again give all his millions, and his honor itself?”
She said this; but at the same time she had slipped one of her hands
behind her back, and was feeling for the knob of the door. She got hold
of it, and instantly disappeared, before any one could have prevented
her escape.
“Never mind!” said Malgat. “All the outer doors are guarded.”
But she had not meant to escape. There she was again, pale and cold like
marble. She looked defiantly all around her, and said in a mocking tone
of voice,--
“I have loved; and now I can die. That is just. I have loved. Ah!
Planix, Malgat, and Kergrist ought to have taught me what becomes of
people who really love.”