an extent that longer concealment will be impossible. When that day comes what is to be done? Perhaps you have some feasible plan of escape?”
Mme. Fauvel shuddered. The dreadful day of discovery could not be far off, and no earthly way was there to escape it.
The marquis went on:
“Assist me now, and, instead of having to make a shameful confession, you will thank me for having saved you. Mlle. Madeleine is rich: her dowry will enable me to supply the deficiency, and spare you all further anxiety about Raoul.”
“I would rather be ruined than be saved by such means.”
“But I will not permit you to ruin us all. Remember, madame, that we are associated in a common cause, the future welfare of Raoul; and, although you have a right to rush upon destruction yourself, you certainly shall not drag us with you.”
“Cease your importunities,” she said, looking him steadily in the eye. “I have made up my mind irrevocably.”
“To what?”
“To do everything and anything to escape your shameful persecution. Oh! you need not smile. I shall throw myself at M. Fauvel’s feet, and confess everything. He is noble-hearted and generous, and, knowing how I have suffered, will forgive me.”
“Do you think so?” said Clameran derisively.
“You mean to say that he will be pitiless, and banish me from his roof. So be it; it will only be what I deserve. There is no torture that I cannot bear, after what I have suffered through you.”
This inconceivable resistance so upset all the marquis’s plans that he lost all constraint, and, dropping the mask of politeness, appeared in his true character.
“Indeed!” he said in a fierce, brutal tone, “so you have decided to confess to your loving, magnanimous husband! A famous idea! What a pity you did not think of it before; it is rather late to try it now. Confessing everything the first day I called on you, you might have been forgiven. Your husband might have pardoned a youthful fault atoned for by twenty years of irreproachable conduct; for none can deny that you have been a faithful wife and a good mother. But picture the indignation of your trusting husband when you tell him that this pretended nephew, whom you imposed upon his family circle, who sat at his table, who borrowed his money, is your illegitimate son! M. Fauvel is, no doubt, an excellent, kind-hearted man; but I scarcely think he will pardon a deception of this nature, which betrays such depravity, duplicity, and audacity.”
All that the angry marquis said was horribly true; yet Mme. Fauvel listened unflinchingly, as if the coarse cruelty of his words strengthened her resolution to have nothing more to do with him, but to throw herself on her husband’s mercy.
“Upon my soul,” he went on, “you must be very much infatuated with this M. Bertomy! Between the honor of your husband’s name, and pleasing this love-sick cashier, you refuse to hesitate. Well, I suppose he will console you. When M. Fauvel divorces you, and Abel and Lucien avert their faces at your approach, and blush at being your sons, you will be able to say, ‘I have made Prosper happy!’”
“Happen what may, I shall do what is right,” said Mme. Fauvel.
“You shall do what I say!” cried Clameran, threateningly. “Do you suppose that I will allow your sentimentality to blast all my hopes? I shall tolerate no such folly, madame, I can assure you. Your niece’s fortune is indispensable to us, and, more than that—I love the fair Madeleine, and am determined to marry her.”
The blow once struck, the marquis judged it prudent to await the result. With cool politeness, he continued:
“I will leave you now, madame, to think the matter over, and you cannot fail to view it in the same light as I do. You had better take my advice, and consent to this sacrifice of prejudice, as it will be the last required of you. Think of the honor of your family, and not of your niece’s love-affair. I will return in three days for your answer.”
“Your return is unnecessary, monsieur: I shall tell my husband everything to-night.”
If Mme. Fauvel had not been so agitated herself, she would have detected an expression of alarm upon Clameran’s face.
But this uneasiness was only momentary. With a shrug, which meant, “Just as you please,” he said:
“I think you have sense enough to keep your secret.”
He bowed ceremoniously, and left the room, but slammed the front door after him so violently as to prove that his restrained anger burst forth before leaving the house.
Clameran had cause for fear. Mme. Fauvel’s determination was not feigned. She was firm in her resolve to confess.
“Yes,” she cried, with the enthusiasm of a noble resolution, “yes, I will tell Andre everything!”
She believed herself to be alone, but turned around suddenly at the sound of footsteps, and found herself face to face with Madeleine, who was pale and swollen-eyed with weeping.
“You must obey this man, aunt,” she quietly said.
Adjoining the parlor was a little card-room separated only by a heavy silk curtain, instead of a door.
Madeleine was sitting in this little room when the marquis arrived, and, as there was no egress save through the parlor, had remained, and thus overheard the conversation.
“Good Heaven!” cried Mme. Fauvel with terror, “do you know——”
“I know everything, aunt.”
“And you wish me to sacrifice you to this fiend?”
“I implore you to let me save you from misery.”
“You certainly despise and hate M. de Clameran; how can you think I would let you marry him?”
“I do despise him, aunt, and shall always regard him as the basest of men; nevertheless I will marry him.”
Mme. Fauvel was overcome by the magnitude of this devotion.
“And what is to become of Prosper, my poor child—Prosper, whom you love?”
Madeleine stifled a sob, and said in a firm voice:
“To-morrow I will break off my engagement with M. Bertomy.”
“I will never permit such a wrong,” cried Mme. Fauvel. “I will not add to my sins by suffering an innocent girl to bear their penalty.”
The noble girl sadly shook her head, and replied:
“Neither will I suffer dishonor to fall upon this house, which is my home, while I have power to prevent it. Am I not indebted to you for more than life? What would I now be had you not taken pity on me? A factory girl in my native village. You warmly welcomed the poor orphan, and became a mother to her. Is it not to your husband that I owe the fortune which excites the cupidity of this wicked Clameran? Are not Abel and Lucien brothers to me? And now, when the happiness of all who have been loving and generous to me is at stake, do you suppose I would hesitate? No. I will become the wife of Clameran.”
Then began a struggle of self-sacrifice
