But
delirium seemed to have seized them since, thanks to a still
inexplicable crime, they had suddenly found themselves in
possession of an immense fortune. Perhaps in this wild pursuit of
pleasure, in the haste they displayed to satisfy their covetous
longings, they hoped to forget or silence the threatening voice of
conscience. Such was Mademoiselle Marguerite's conclusion; but
she was not long left to undisturbed meditation. By the
lieutenant's departure the restrictions which had been placed upon
the servants' movements had evidently been removed, for they came
in to clear the table.
Having with some little difficulty obtained a candle from one of
these model servants, Mademoiselle Marguerite now retired to her
own room. In her anxiety, she forgot Madame Leon, but the latter
had not forgotten her; she was even now listening at the drawing-
room door, inconsolable to think that she had not succeeded in
hearing at least part of the conversation between the lieutenant
and her dear young lady. Marguerite had no wish to reflect over
what had occurred. As she was determined to keep the promise
which Lieutenant Gustave had wrung from her, it mattered little
whether she had committed a great mistake in allowing him to
discover her knowledge of his parent's guilt, and in listening to
his entreaties. A secret presentiment warned her that the
punishment which would overtake the General and his wife would be
none the less terrible, despite her own forbearance, and that they
would find their son more inexorable than the severest judge.
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