Bertram Gramont fell back perfectly annihilated, whilst Mabel, kissing her mother’s cheek, exclaimed—
“Did I not say, dear mother, that a beneficent Providence would yet shield us from the evil designs of our enemies!”
Bertram Gramont bit his lip, and with a look of rage and vexation at Mabel, turned and left the room, saying to Jean Plessis—
“I have not done with you yet, monsieur; follow me into another apartment.”
“This way, then, Monsieur le Maire,” said the intendant, passing along the corridor, and throwing open the door of the small saloon into which our hero was first shown when he entered the Château Coulancourt.
“I see through your designs, Monsieur Plessis,” cried Bertram Gramont, slamming the door after him as they entered the room; “you think you can elude justice, and purchase permission to become a traitor.”
“Take care, Bertram Gramont,” said Jean Plessis sternly, “how you accuse Monsieur Barras of such a crime.”
“Who dares say I accused Monsieur Barras?” hastily interrupted the maire, turning pale, for in his passion he had allowed his thoughts utterance, and he well knew what a terrible power the said Monsieur Barras wielded. “I did not speak of any one in particular; I knew you to have harboured enemies to your country. You cannot deny but that you knew that an English officer and one of his men were in this house, under the assumed names of De Tourville and Bompart, and also that Madame de Coulancourt had her son concealed here. Do not think that even Monsieur Barras’ power can shield culprits, against whom such charges can be fully proven.”
“It will be time enough, Monsieur Gramont,” returned Jean Plessis, recovering his usual calmness, “to argue this point when Madame Coulancourt arrives in Paris; she will not shrink from investigation. At the same time, others will have to answer grave charges. Antoine Dubois” (the maire started) “declares that the man now lying wounded in your house was one of the party who, in the disguise of Chouans, attempted to rob me of important papers, and that his name is Vadier—Augustine Vadier, once a galley slave, afterwards one of the monster Robespierre’s diables.”
“Where is that villain? Dubois,” furiously interrupted Bertram Gramont; “he shall pay dearly for his lies. It was only this morning that I turned the wretch from my house for insolence and drunkenness.”