"I understand you—you are right—yes, by St. George!" Croustillac remembered having heard the prince use this oath; "by St. George, I will be revenged."
Angela and the duke breathed again. They understood that the chevalier wished to save them.
"Your highness," said De Chemerant severely, "I do not hesitate to repeat to your highness, before madame, what I had the honor to say to you some short time ago, that an insurmountable barrier now separates you from a guilty spouse," continued the envoy, with an effort, while Angela hid her confusion by covering her face with her handkerchief.
Croustillac raised his head, and cried in a heartbroken tone, "Deceived by a mulatto; think of it, sir, a miserable mulatto, a mongrel, a copper-colored animal!"
"Your highness——"
"In a word, sir," said Croustillac, turning toward the envoy with an indignant and sorrowful manner, "you know why I returned, what my plans were; what I would have placed upon the brow of madame. Ah, well, is it not a frightful irony of fate that at this very moment a wife—a criminal——"
"Your highness," cried De Chemerant, interrupting the Gascon, "at present these projects must be a secret from madame."
"I know it; I know it! but then what a horrible surprise! I enter with a heart beating with joy, into the home circle, into my peaceful home, and what is it that I hear?"
"Your highness——"
"You have heard it as well as I. That is not all—what is it that I see?"