"
"Astonishing, upon my honor! But afterward?"
"I shall leave Paris."
"Bah! and where are you going?"
With a gesture of utter indifference, she gently replied: "I don't
know; I shall go where no one will know me, and where it will be
possible for me to hide my shame."
A terrible disquietude seized hold of Wilkie. This sudden change
of residence, this departure which so strongly resembled flight,
this cold greeting when he expected passionate reproaches, seemed
to indicate that Madame d'Argeles's resolution would successfully
resist any amount of entreaty on his part. "The devil," he
remarked, "I don't think this at all pleasant! What is to become
of me? How am I to obtain possession of the Count de Chalusse's
estate? That's what I am after! It's rightfully mine, and I'm
determined to have it, as I told you once before. And when I've
once taken anything into my head----"
He paused, for he could no longer face the scornful glances that
Madame d'Argeles was giving him. "Don't be alarmed," she replied
bitterly, "I shall leave you the means of asserting your right to
my parents' estate."
"Ah--so----"
"Your threats obliged me to decide contrary to my own wishes. I
felt that no amount of slander or disgrace would daunt you."
"Of course not, when so many millions are at stake."
"I reflected, and I saw that nothing would arrest you upon your
downward path except a large fortune.
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