III.
It was as if he had seen an apparition, and he was vainly striving
to drive away a terrible, mysterious fear, when a heavy footfall
made the floor of the dining-room creak anew. The noise restored
him to consciousness of his position. "It is the baron!" he
thought; "he is coming this way! If he finds me here I am lost; he
will never consent to help me. A man would never forgive another
man for hearing what I have just heard."
Why should he not try to make his escape? The card, bearing the
name of Maumejan, would be no proof of his visit. He could see
the baron somewhere else some other day--elsewhere than at his own
house, so that he need not fear the recognition of the servants.
These thoughts flashed through his mind, and he was about to fly,
when a harsh cry held him spell-bound. Baron Trigault was
standing on the threshold. His emotion, as is almost always the
case with corpulent people, was evinced by a frightful distortion
of his features. His face was transformed, his lips had become
perfectly white, and his eyes seemed to be starting from their
sockets. "How came you here?" he asked, in a husky voice.
"Your servants ushered me into this room."
"Who are you?"
"What! monsieur, don't you recognize me?" rejoined Pascal, who in
his agitation forgot that the baron had seen him only twice
before. He forgot the absence of his beard, his almost ragged
clothing, and all the precautions he had taken to render
recognition impossible.
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