Baron Trigault's Vengeance [135]
"Are you ill that you sit there like that, as still as a mummy?"
The viscount turned as if he had been suddenly aroused from slumber. "I'm well enough," he answered somewhat roughly. "I was only thinking."
"Your thoughts are not very pleasant, to judge from the look on your face."
"No. I was thinking of the fate that you are preparing for us."
"Oh! A truce to disagreeable prophecies, please! Besides, it's too late to draw back, or to even think of retreat. The Rubicon is passed."
"Alas! that is the cause of my anxiety. If it hadn't been for my wretched past, which you have threatened me with like a dagger, I should long ago have left you to incur this danger alone. You were useful to me in times past, I admit. You presented me to the Baroness Trigault, to whose patronage I owe my present means, but I am paying too dearly for your services in allowing myself to be made the instrument of your dangerous schemes. Who aided you in defrauding Kami-Bey? Who bet for you against your own horse Domingo? Who risked his life in slipping those cards in the pack which Pascal Ferailleur held? It was Coralth, always Coralth."
A gesture of anger escaped the marquis, but resolving to restrain himself, he made no rejoinder. It was not until after he had walked five or six times round the smoking-room and grown more calm that he returned to the viscount's side. "Really, I don't recognize you," he began. "Is it really you who have turned coward? And at what a moment, pray? Why, on the very eve of success."
"I wish I could believe you."
"Facts shall convince you. This morning I might have doubted, but now, thanks to that vain idiot who goes by the name of Wilkie, I am sure, perfectly, mathematically sure of success. Maumejan, who is entirely devoted to me, and who is the greediest, most avaricious scoundrel alive, will draw up such a complaint that Marguerite will sleep in prison. Moreover, other witnesses will be summoned. By what Casimir has said, you can judge what the other servants will say. This testimony will be sufficient to convict her of the robbery. As for the poisoning, you heard Dr. Jodon. Can I depend upon him? Evidently, if I pay without haggling. Very well; I shall pay."
But all this did not reassure M. de Coralth. "The accusation will fall to the ground," said he, "as soon as the famous vial from which M. de Chalusse took two spoonfuls is found."
"Excuse me; it won't be found."
"But why?"
"Because I know where it is, my dear friend. It is in the count's escritoire, but it won't be there any longer on the day after to- morrow."
"Who will remove it?"
"A skilful fellow whom Madame Leon has found for me. Everything has been carefully arranged. To-morrow night at the latest Madame Leon will let this man into the Hotel de Chalusse by the garden gate, which she has kept the key of. Vantrasson, as the man is called, knows the management of the house, and he will break open the escritoire and take the vial away. You may say that there are seals upon the furniture, placed there by the justice of the peace. That's true, but this man tells me that he can remove and replace them in such a way as to defy detection; and as the lock has been forced once already--the day after the count's death--a second attempt to break the escritoire open will not be detected."
The viscount remarked, with an ironical air: "All that is perfect; but the autopsy will reveal the falseness of the accusation."
"Naturally--but an autopsy will require time, and that will suit my plans admirably. After eight or ten days' solitary confinement and several rigid examinations, Mademoiselle Marguerite's energy and courage will flag. What do you think she will reply to the man who says to her: 'I love you, and for your sake I will attempt the impossible. Swear to become my wife and I will establish your innocence?'"
"I think she will say: 'Save me and I will marry you!'"
M. de Valorsay clapped his hands. "Bravo!" he exclaimed; "you have spoken the truth. Remember, now, that your dark forebodings
The viscount turned as if he had been suddenly aroused from slumber. "I'm well enough," he answered somewhat roughly. "I was only thinking."
"Your thoughts are not very pleasant, to judge from the look on your face."
"No. I was thinking of the fate that you are preparing for us."
"Oh! A truce to disagreeable prophecies, please! Besides, it's too late to draw back, or to even think of retreat. The Rubicon is passed."
"Alas! that is the cause of my anxiety. If it hadn't been for my wretched past, which you have threatened me with like a dagger, I should long ago have left you to incur this danger alone. You were useful to me in times past, I admit. You presented me to the Baroness Trigault, to whose patronage I owe my present means, but I am paying too dearly for your services in allowing myself to be made the instrument of your dangerous schemes. Who aided you in defrauding Kami-Bey? Who bet for you against your own horse Domingo? Who risked his life in slipping those cards in the pack which Pascal Ferailleur held? It was Coralth, always Coralth."
A gesture of anger escaped the marquis, but resolving to restrain himself, he made no rejoinder. It was not until after he had walked five or six times round the smoking-room and grown more calm that he returned to the viscount's side. "Really, I don't recognize you," he began. "Is it really you who have turned coward? And at what a moment, pray? Why, on the very eve of success."
"I wish I could believe you."
"Facts shall convince you. This morning I might have doubted, but now, thanks to that vain idiot who goes by the name of Wilkie, I am sure, perfectly, mathematically sure of success. Maumejan, who is entirely devoted to me, and who is the greediest, most avaricious scoundrel alive, will draw up such a complaint that Marguerite will sleep in prison. Moreover, other witnesses will be summoned. By what Casimir has said, you can judge what the other servants will say. This testimony will be sufficient to convict her of the robbery. As for the poisoning, you heard Dr. Jodon. Can I depend upon him? Evidently, if I pay without haggling. Very well; I shall pay."
But all this did not reassure M. de Coralth. "The accusation will fall to the ground," said he, "as soon as the famous vial from which M. de Chalusse took two spoonfuls is found."
"Excuse me; it won't be found."
"But why?"
"Because I know where it is, my dear friend. It is in the count's escritoire, but it won't be there any longer on the day after to- morrow."
"Who will remove it?"
"A skilful fellow whom Madame Leon has found for me. Everything has been carefully arranged. To-morrow night at the latest Madame Leon will let this man into the Hotel de Chalusse by the garden gate, which she has kept the key of. Vantrasson, as the man is called, knows the management of the house, and he will break open the escritoire and take the vial away. You may say that there are seals upon the furniture, placed there by the justice of the peace. That's true, but this man tells me that he can remove and replace them in such a way as to defy detection; and as the lock has been forced once already--the day after the count's death--a second attempt to break the escritoire open will not be detected."
The viscount remarked, with an ironical air: "All that is perfect; but the autopsy will reveal the falseness of the accusation."
"Naturally--but an autopsy will require time, and that will suit my plans admirably. After eight or ten days' solitary confinement and several rigid examinations, Mademoiselle Marguerite's energy and courage will flag. What do you think she will reply to the man who says to her: 'I love you, and for your sake I will attempt the impossible. Swear to become my wife and I will establish your innocence?'"
"I think she will say: 'Save me and I will marry you!'"
M. de Valorsay clapped his hands. "Bravo!" he exclaimed; "you have spoken the truth. Remember, now, that your dark forebodings