whom she was sending could come to her assistance, "whatever the hour, whatever the obstacles."
A reaction followed which was all the greater inasmuch as the effort had been swift and violent. Yvonne staggered, leant against a chair and, losing all energy, let herself fall.
The hours passed by, the dreary hours of winter evenings when nothing but the sound of carriages interrupts the silence of the street. The clock struck, pitilessly. In the half-sleep that numbed her limbs, Yvonne counted the strokes. She also heard certain noises, on different floors of the house, which told her that her husband had dined, that he was going up to his room, that he was going down again to his study. But all this seemed very shadowy to her; and her torpor was such that she did not even think of lying down on the sofa, in case he should come in…
The twelve strokes of midnight… Then half-past twelve … then one… Yvonne thought of nothing, awaiting the events which were preparing and against which rebellion was useless. She pictured her son and herself as one pictures those beings who have suffered much and who suffer no more and who take each other in their loving arms. But a nightmare shattered this dream. For now those two beings were to be torn asunder; and she had the awful feeling, in her delirium, that she was crying and choking…
She leapt from her seat. The key had turned in the lock. The count was coming, attracted by her cries. Yvonne glanced round for a weapon with which to defend herself. But the door was pushed back quickly and, astounded, as though the sight that presented itself before her eyes seemed to her the most inexplicable prodigy, she stammered:
"You!.. You!.."
A man was walking up to her, in dress-clothes, with his opera-hat and cape under his arm, and this man, young, slender and elegant, she had recognized as Horace Velmont.
"You!" she repeated.
He said, with a bow:
"I beg your pardon, madame, but I did not receive your letter until very late."
"Is it possible? Is it possible that this is you … that you were able to …?"
He seemed greatly surprised:
"Did I not promise to come in answer to your call?"
"Yes … but …"
"Well, here I am," he said, with a smile.
He examined the strips of canvas from which Yvonne had succeeded in freeing herself and nodded his head, while continuing his inspection:
"So those are the means employed? The Comte d'Origny, I presume?.. I also saw that he locked you in… But then the pneumatic letter?.. Ah, through the window!.. How careless of you not to close it!"
He pushed both sides to. Yvonne took fright:
"Suppose they hear!"
"There is no one in the house. I have been over it."
"Still …"
"Your husband went out ten minutes ago."
"Where is he?"
"With his mother, the Comtesse d'Origny."
"How do you know?"
"Oh, it's very simple! He was rung up by telephone and I awaited the result at the corner of this street and the boulevard. As I expected, the count came out hurriedly, followed by his man. I at once entered, with the aid of special keys."
He told this in the most natural way, just as one tells a meaningless anecdote in a drawing-room. But Yvonne, suddenly seized with fresh alarm, asked:
"Then it's not true?.. His mother is not ill?.. In that case, my husband will be coming back…"
"Certainly, the count will see that a trick has been played on him and in three quarters of an hour at the latest…"
"Let us go… I don't want him to find me here… I must go to my son…"
"One moment…"
"One moment!.. But don't you know that they have taken him from me?.. That they are hurting him, perhaps?.."
With set face and feverish gestures, she tried to push Velmont back. He, with great gentleness, compelled her to sit down and, leaning over her in a respectful attitude, said, in a serious voice:
"Listen, madame, and let us not waste time, when every minute is valuable. First of all, remember this: we met four times, six years ago… And, on the fourth occasion, when I was speaking to you, in the drawing-room of this house, with too much – what shall I say? – with too much feeling, you gave me to understand that my visits were no longer welcome. Since that day I have not seen you. And, nevertheless, in spite of all, your faith in me was such that you kept the card which I put between the pages of that book and, six years later, you send for me and none other. That faith in me I ask you to continue. You must obey me blindly. Just as I surmounted every obstacle to come to you, so I will save you, whatever the position may be."
Horace Velmont's calmness, his masterful voice, with the friendly intonation, gradually quieted the countess. Though still very weak, she gained a fresh sense of ease and security in that man's presence.
"Have no fear," he went on. "The Comtesse d'Origny lives at the other end of the Bois de Vincennes. Allowing that your husband finds a motor-cab, it is impossible for him to be back before a quarter-past three. Well, it is twenty-five to three now. I swear to take you away at three o'clock exactly and to take you to your son. But I will not go before I know everything."
"What am I to do?" she asked.
"Answer me and very plainly. We have twenty minutes. It is enough. But it is not too much."
"Ask me what you want to know."
"Do you think that the count had any … any murderous intentions?"
"No."
"Then it concerns your son?"
"Yes."
"He is taking him away, I suppose, because he wants to divorce you and marry another woman, a former friend of yours, whom you have turned out of your house. Is that it? Oh, I entreat you, answer me frankly! These are facts of public notoriety; and your hesitation, your scruples, must all cease, now that the matter concerns your son. So your husband wished to marry another woman?
"Yes."
"The woman has no money. Your husband, on his side, has gambled away all his property and has no means beyond the allowance which he receives from his mother, the Comtesse d'Origny, and the income of a large fortune which your son inherited from two of your uncles. It is this fortune which your husband covets and which he would appropriate more easily if the child were placed in his hands. There is only one way: divorce. Am I right?"
"Yes."
"And what has prevented him until now is your refusal?"
"Yes, mine and that of my mother-in-law, whose religious feelings are opposed to divorce. The Comtesse d'Origny would only yield in case …"
"In case …?"
"In case they could prove me guilty of shameful conduct."
Velmont shrugged his shoulders:
