His agitation and
preoccupation were so marked as to attract attention; and one
acquaintance laughingly inquired if he were ill, while another
jestingly remarked that he had dined and wined a little too much.
The traitor was evidently on coals of fire. I could see the
perspiration on his forehead, and each time the door opened or
shut, he changed color, as if he expected to see you and Wilkie
enter. A dozen times I surprised him listening eagerly, as if by
dint of attention, or by the magnetic force of his will, he hoped
to hear what you and your son were saying. With a single word I
could have wrung a confession from him."
This explanation was so plausible that Madame d'Argeles felt half
convinced. "Ah! if you had only spoken that word!" she murmured.
The baron smiled a crafty and malicious smile, which would have
chilled M. de Coralth's very blood if he had chanced to see it.
"I am not so stupid!" he replied. "We mustn't frighten the fish
till we are quite ready. Our net is the Chalusse estate, and
Coralth and Valorsay will enter it of their own accord. It is not
my plan, but M. Ferailleur's. There's a man for you! and if
Mademoiselle Marguerite is worthy of him they will make a noble
pair. Without suspecting it, your son has perhaps rendered us an
important service this evening--"
"Alas!" faltered Madame d'Argeles, "I am none the less ruined--the
name of Chalusse is none the less dishonored!"
She wanted to return to the drawing-room; but she was compelled to
relinquish this idea.
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