"Ah, well, madame, here I am ready to obey when you force me to do so. I am waiting."
"It will not be long."
"I am waiting."
"I have seen in your street several lodgings to let. That is nothing extraordinary, I am sure, M. Pascal; but a happy chance has shown me a very pretty apartment on the first floor, not yet engaged, almost opposite your house."
Pascal looked at Madeleine stupidly.
"This apartment I shall take, and shall install myself there to-morrow."
A vague foreboding made the financier start; he turned pale.
Madeleine continued, fixing her burning gaze on the man's eyes:
"At every hour of the day and the night you will know that I am there. You will not be able to go out of your house without passing before my windows, where I shall be often, very often. I am fond of sitting at the window. You will not leave your house, I defy you. An irresistible, fatal charm will draw you back to your punishment every instant. The sight of me will give you torture, and you will seek that sight. Every time you meet my glance, and you will meet it often, you will receive a dagger in your heart, and yet, ambushed behind your curtains, you will watch my every movement."
As she talked, Madeleine had made a step toward Pascal, holding him fascinated, panting under her fixed, burning eyes, from which he could not remove his own.