A tear which had long hung suspended from the thick lashes of Bertha's eyelid fell on her cheek like a liquid pearl. Her bosom heaved convulsively—a sudden tremor seized her frame, while a deep flush suffused her countenance, as again she sunk into her former gloomy abstraction.
Let us briefly explain the cause both of Bertha's sadness and utter dejection.
During her last residence in Lorraine, M. de Brévannes had bestowed the most marked attention on one of the female attendants belonging to his wife. The insolence displayed by the creature thus improperly distinguished opened the eyes of Madame de Brévannes as to its real cause, or, at least, infused into her mind such strong suspicions as to call for the immediate dismissal of the guilty woman.
This trying circumstance had occurred a few days before the return of M. de Brévannes to Paris, and had left a bitter feeling of injury in the mind of Bertha, who, however she might previously have smarted under her husband's infidelity, had never experienced a similar humiliation.
Four o'clock struck, and aroused Madame de Brévannes from her reverie. Absorbed in her deep and painful meditation, she had taken no note of the hours, and was surprised to find the night so completely gone.
At this moment a carriage stopped at the door, and Bertha began to regret having sat up so late. Her husband had peremptorily forbidden her ever awaiting his return. The servants, also, by his orders, retired to rest whether their master were in or not. He usually entered by a small side door, of which he alone had the key, but he was compelled to pass through Bertha's sitting-room in order to reach one of the two sleeping-apartments which communicated with it.
At the sight of her husband, Bertha rose to meet him, endeavouring, by a forced smile, to deprecate the storm she dreaded and anticipated.
The contraction of M. de Brévannes' features indicated the evil passions which at that moment possessed him. The few words spoken at random by Madame Beauvoisis respecting his journey to Italy had awakened within him a crowd of painful ideas, which he had been compelled to restrain during the hall and supper; it was, therefore, with considerable pleasure he promised himself a means of venting the wrath and bitterness with which he was filled, by quarrelling with his wife for sitting up for him.
"How is this, madam?" exclaimed he, as he entered; "four o'clock in the morning, and you not yet retired to bed! May I inquire the meaning of such strange conduct? Or is it that you may know at what hour I return home? Am I, or am I not, master of my own actions? Is your inquisitorial system to recommence the instant I set my foot in this place? Perhaps it may be as well, since we are upon the subject, to go into it at full length, in order that we may have no further occasion to revert to it during the whole of the winter."
So saying, he threw himself abruptly into the chair Bertha had just quitted, while she remained standing by the piano, utterly overcome with surprise at this abrupt torrent of reproach.