During the day, in the bright sunshine, she regained her courage, and became sceptical again. Then she railed at herself.
“To be afraid of something that does not exist, is folly!” she said, vehemently. “To-night I will conquer my absurd weakness.”
But when evening came all her brave resolution vanished, and the same fear seized her when night appeared with its cortege of spectres.
It is true that Mme. Blanche attributed her tortures at night to the disquietude she suffered during the day.
For the officials were at Sairmeuse then, and she trembled. A mere nothing might divert suspicion from Chupin and direct it toward her. What if some peasant had seen her with Chupin? What if some trifling circumstance should furnish a clew which would lead straight to Courtornieu?
“When the investigation is over, I shall forget,” she thought.
It ended, but she did not forget.
Darwin has said:
“It is when their safety is assured that great criminals really feel remorse.”
Mme. Blanche might have vouched for the truth of this assertion, made by the most profound thinker and closest observer of the age.