“Thus you have forgotten all that happened?”
“Absolutely all; everything.”
“Even your child, madame?”
This question, uttered in a sneer of triumph, fell upon Mme. Fauvel like a thunder-clap. She dropped tremblingly into her seat, murmuring:
“My God! How did he discover it?”
Had her own happiness alone been at stake, she would have instantly thrown herself upon a Clameran’s mercy. But she had her family to defend, and the consciousness of this gave her strength to resist him.
“Do you wish to insult me, monsieur?” she asked.
“Do you pretend to say you have forgotten Valentin-Raoul?”
She saw that this man did indeed know all. How? It little mattered. He certainly knew; but she determined to deny everything, even the most positive proofs, if he should produce them.
For an instant she had an idea of ordering the Marquis of Clameran to leave the house; but prudence stayed her. She thought it best to discover how much he really knew.