"'Ha!' said the Colonel. 'Has Angela ever been in a sweet sleep since you brought nameless misery upon her?'
"He was about to enter the room, but the Chevalier prostrated himself at his feet, and cried, in utter despair, 'Have some mercy! You have made me a beggar! Leave me my wife!'
"'So lay old Vertua at your feet, unfeeling monster that you were, and could not move your stony heart. Therefore, may the vengeance of Heaven be upon you!'
"So saying, the Colonel again turned towards Angela's room.
"The Chevalier sprang to the door, burst it open, dashed up to the bed where his wife was lying, drew the curtains aside, cried 'Angela! Angela!'--bent over her--took her hand--shuddered like one convulsed in the death agony, and cried out in a terrible voice--
"'See here! What you have won from me is my wife's corpse!'
"The Colonel hurried to the bedside in terror. There was no trace of life. Angela was dead.
"The Colonel raised his clenched hands to heaven, and rushed away with a hollow cry. He was no more seen."
It was thus that the stranger finished his narrative, and having done so, he went quickly away, before the Baron, much moved by it, was able to utter any word.
A day or two afterwards the stranger was found insensible in his room, stricken by apoplexy. He was speechless till his death, which happened in a few hours. His papers showed that, though he was known by the name of Baudasson, he really was none other than the unfortunate Chevalier Menars.