She gazed at her son with haggard eyes. She knew that Paul would not survive the truth one single hour, and, by a supreme effort, forced her lips to a smile, saying, "You are right; I was mistaken; you have cured me. Thanks! oh, my child! my child! my child!"
She kissed him again and again. "I love you, dear Paul; my jealousy is at an end—if you could only see the happiness in my heart."
The door opened and Odette came in, dressed for her walk, buttoning her gloves.
"I am ready first, Paul," she said.
"I will not keep you waiting five seconds," he replied, and whispered to his mother. "We will not tell any one our little secrets—good bye," and he hurried from the room, leaving the two women face to face, the elder knowing herself so infamously betrayed by the other!
Elaine followed Paul with her eyes. As soon as he had disappeared she rose. The savage despair in her heart flamed from her eyes. She sprang towards Odette in a burst of jealous fury.
"Wretch!" she hissed between her teeth.
Odette started as if a bullet had reached her heart. As a flash of lightning lights up a landscape, so did every thing come clear before her eyes. She did not attempt any denial.
"Yes, Claude is my lover," she said in a hollow voice. "You call me a wretch? I have called myself nothing else for a long time. What can you do? It will kill Paul if you tell him."