“Jacques,” she began, “has been the lover of the Countess Claudieuse.”
“Ah, ah!” broke in the marquis.
And, in a tone of offensive irony, he added,—
“No doubt another story of adultery; eh?”
The marchioness did not answer. She quietly went on,—
“When the countess heard of Jacques’s marriage, and that he abandoned her, she became exasperated, and determined to be avenged.”
“And, in order to be avenged, she attempted to murder her husband; eh?”
“She wished to be free.”
The Marquis de Boiscoran interrupted his wife with a formidable oath. Then he cried,—
“And that is all Jacques could invent! And to come to such an abortive story—was that the reason of his obstinate silence?”