For this was not all! You had not even the excuse, if
excuse it be, of a powerful, all-absorbing passion. Convinced of
your treachery, I resolved to ascertain everything, and I
discovered that in my absence you had become a mother. Why didn't
I kill you? How did I have the courage to remain silent and
conceal what I knew? Ah! it was because, by watching you, I hoped
to discover the cursed bastard and your accomplice. It was
because I dreamed of a vengeance as terrible as the offence. I
said to myself that the day would come when, at any risk, you
would try to see your child again, to embrace her, and provide for
her future. Fool! fool that I was! You had already forgotten her!
When you received news of my intended return, she was sent to some
foundling asylum, or left to die upon some door-step. Have you
ever thought of her? Have you ever asked what has become of her?
ever asked yourself if she had needed bread while you have been
living in almost regal luxury? ever asked yourself into what
depths of vice she may have fallen?"
"Always the same ridiculous accusation!" exclaimed the baroness.
"Yes, always!"
"You must know, however, that this story of a child is only a vile
slander. I told you so when you spoke of it to me a dozen years
afterward. I have repeated it a thousand times since."
The baron uttered a sigh that was very like a sob, and without
paying any heed to his wife's words, he continued: "If I consented
to allow you to remain under my roof, it was only for the sake of
our daughter.
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