“We know that already.”
“Indeed!” replied the Viscountess, with a look of surprise. “It seems, cousin, that you saw Sabine that afternoon, but what became of her afterward no one appears to know; but there is positive proof that she did not leave the house, and received no letters. At all events, it was more than an hour after her maid saw her enter her own room. Sabine said a few unintelligible words to the girl, who, seeing the pallor upon her mistress’s face, ran up to her. Just as she did so, Sabine uttered a wild shriek, and fell to the ground. She was raised up and laid upon the bed, but since then she has neither moved nor spoken.”
“That is not all,” said De Breulh, who had watched his cousin keenly.
The Viscountess started, and avoided meeting her cousin’s eye.
“I do not understand,” she faltered. “Why do you look at me like that?”
De Breulh, who had been pacing up and down the room, suddenly halted in front of the Viscountess.
“My dear Clotilde,” said he, “I am sure when I tell you that the tongue of scandal has often been busy with your name, I am telling you nothing new.”
“Pooh!” answered the Viscountess. “What do I care for that?”
“But I always defended you. You are indiscreet—your presence here tonight shows this; but you are, after all, a true woman,—brave and true as steel.”
“What do you mean by this exordium, Gontran?”