But patience! The day of
reckoning is near at hand!"
Those whom he threatened would have shuddered had they seen him at that
moment, so terrible was the rage revealed by his accent, so formidable
did he appear.
"And you, my beloved daughter, my poor Marie-Anne, you did not
understand the insults she heaped upon you. You are wondering why she
should have treated you with such disdain. Ah, well! I will tell you:
she imagines that the Marquis de Sairmeuse is your lover."
Marie-Anne tottered beneath the terrible blow, and a nervous spasm shook
her from head to foot.
"Can this be possible?" she exclaimed. "Great God! what shame! what
humiliation!"
"And why should this astonish you?" said Lacheneur, coldly. "Have you
not expected this ever since the day when you, my devoted daughter,
consented, for the sake of my plans, to submit to the attentions of this
marquis, whom you loathe as much as I despise?"
"But Maurice! Maurice will despise me! I can bear anything, yes,
everything but that."
M. Lacheneur made no reply. Marie-Anne's despair was heart-breaking;
he felt that he could not bear to witness it, that it would shake his
resolution, and he re-entered the house.
Pages:
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222