第120章

It was four o'clock in the afternoon on the following day, when Ipresented myself at the hotel on the Boulevard de Latour-Maubourg.

I knew that my mother would most probably be out.I also thought it likely my stepfather would he feeling none the better of his early excursion to the Grand Hotel on the previous day, and Itherefore hoped to find him at home, perhaps in his bed.I was right; my mother was out, and he had remained at home.He was in his study, the room in which our first explanation had taken place.

That upon which I was now bent was of far greater importance, and yet I was less agitated than on the former occasion.At last I was completely certain of the facts, and with that certainty a strange calmness had come to me.I can recall my having talked for a few moments with the servant who announced me, about a child of his who was ill.I also remember to have observed for the first time that the smoky chimney of some manufacturing works at the back of the garden, built, no doubt, during the last winter, was visible through the window of the staircase.

I record these things because I am bound to recognize that my mind was quite clear and free--for I will be sincere to the end--when Ientered the spacious room.

My stepfather was reclining in a deep armchair at the far side of the fireplace, and occupied in cutting the pages of a new book with a dagger.The blade of this weapon was broad, short, and strong.

He had brought the knife back from Spain, with several other kinds of arms, which lay about in the rooms he habitually occupied.Inow understood the order of ideas which this singular taste indicated.He was dressed for walking; but his altered looks bore witness to the intensity of the crisis through which he had passed.

It had affected his whole being.

Very likely my face was expressive of an extraordinary resolution, for I saw by his eyes, as our looks met, that he had read the depths of my thoughts at a glance.Nevertheless, he said: "Ah, is it you, Andre? It is very kind of you to come," thus exhibiting once more the power of his self-control, and he put out his hand.

I did not take it, and my refusal, contrasting with his gesture of welcome, the silence which I kept for some minutes, the contraction of my features, and, no doubt, the menace in my eyes, entirely enlightened him as to the mood in which I came to him.Very quietly, he laid down his book and the Spanish knife he had been using, on a large table within his reach, and then he rose from his chair, leaned his back against the mantelpiece, and crossing his arms, looked at me with the haughty stare I knew so well, and which had so often humiliated me in my boyhood.I was the first to break the silence; replying to his polite greeting in a harsh tone, and looking him straight in the face, I said:

"The time of lies is past.You have guessed that I know all?"He bent his brows into the stern frown he always assumed when he felt anger he was bound to suppress, his eyes met mine with indomitable pride, and he merely replied:

"I do not understand you."

"You do not understand me? Very well, I am about to enlighten you." My voice shook in uttering these words; my coolness was forsaking me.The day before, and in my conversation with the brother, I had come in contact with the vile infamy of a knave and a coward; but the enemy whom I was now facing, although a greater scoundrel than the other, found means to preserve a sort of moral superiority, even in that terrible hour when he knew well he was face to face with his crime.

Yes, this man was a criminal, but of a grand kind, and there was no cowardice in him.Pride sat upon that brow so laden with dark thoughts, but fear set no mark upon it, any more than did repentance.In his eyes--exactly like those of his brother--a fierce resolution shone; I felt that he would defend himself to the end.He would yield to evidence only, and such strength of mind displayed at such a moment had the effect of exasperating me.The blood flew to my head, and my heart beat rapidly, as I went on:

"Allow me to take up the matter a little farther back.In 1864, there was in Paris a man who loved the wife of his most intimate friend.Although that friend was very trusting, very noble, very easily duped, he became aware of this love, and he began to suffer from it.He grew jealous--although he never doubted his wife's purity of heart--jealous as everyone is who loves too well.

"The man who was the object of his jealousy perceived it, understood that he was about to be forbidden the house, knew that the woman whom he loved would never degrade herself by listening to a lover, and this is the plan which be conceived:

"He had a brother somewhere in a distant land, an infamous scoundrel who was supposed to be dead, a creature sunk in shame, a thief, a forger, a deserter, and he bethought him of this brother as an instrument ready to his hand wherewith to rid himself of the friend who stood in the way of his passion.He sent for the fellow secretly, he appointed to meet him in one of the loneliest corners of Paris--in a street adjoining the Jardin des Plantes, and at night--you see I am well informed.It is easy to imagine how he persuaded the former thief to play the part of bravo.A few months after, the husband was assassinated by this brother, who eluded justice.The felon-friend married almost immediately the woman whom he loved; he is now a man in society, wealthy and respected, and his pure and pious wife loves, admires, nay, worships him.Do you now begin to understand?""No more than before," he answered, with the same impassive face.

He did well not to flinch.What I had said might be only an attempt to wrest his secret from him by feigning to know all.

Nevertheless, the detail concerning the place where he had appointed to meet his brother had made him start.That was the spot to hit, and quickly.