Raynal’s eyes flashed: “Ah! then tell me this moment.”
“It is that scoundrel Dujardin.”
“Dujardin! What do you mean?”
“I mean that, while you were fighting for France, your house was turned into a hospital for wounded soldiers.”
“And pray, sir, to what more honorable use could they put it?”
“Well, this Dujardin was housed by you, was nursed by your wife and all the family; and in return has seduced your sister, my affianced.”
“I can hardly believe that. Camille Dujardin was always a man of honor, and a good soldier.”
“Colonel, there has been no man near the place but this Dujardin. I tell you it is he. Don’t make me tear my bleeding heart out: must I tell you how often I caught them together, how I suspected, and how she gulled me? blind fool that I was, to believe a woman’s words before my own eyes. I swear to you he is the villain; the only question is, which of us two is to kill him.”
“Where is the man?”
“In the army of the Rhine.”