“Yes. He has told me all, now,” she answered, in the same tone. There was something in it which for the moment impressed Claire; but she presently returned to her conviction.
“If it is true, it is only a matter of degree,” she said, her eyes dilating.
“It is everything,” rejoined Nathalie, firmly.
“Take what comfort you can from it, then. What I think is that, true or not, unless Léon can prove it, it will be of no use in warding off the blow. That is the only thing which remains to us. It must not fall. Do you hear! It must not fall.”
“God knows!” She turned away with a sigh, but there was no irresolution in her face. The sun still shone outside; above the grey stone the clear blue was beginning to whiten; so high as to be mere specks, the swallows circled. Suddenly Claire broke into a laugh—a high-pitched laugh, not good to hear.
“A De Beaudrillart tried for theft!” she exclaimed. “In a common dock, I imagine! What a fine event for the world! Tours, too. Why, Tours would have something to talk about for quite a year.” Her voice changed again to something harsh, fierce. “You are not to tell your father, do you hear! Do you mean to say that you have done so already?”
Nathalie looked at her gravely.
“Hush!” she said. “There is no use in saying these things. My father has guessed it, and I think it is breaking his heart.”
“Oh,” cried Claire, wildly, “it only wanted this! Monsieur Bourget knows, and it is breaking Monsieur Bourget’s heart! We Beaudrillarts can bear it, but Monsieur Bourget’s heart is breaking! Do you suppose that we are going to endure this degrading pity? I tell you that anything—death itself—would be better!”
Her white face was distorted, changed; yet if any one had been there to make the comparison, they might have detected a deeper suffering behind Mme. Léon’s silence. She stood mute, her sad young eyes looking into the unknown, her delicate lips compressed. Claire suddenly felt the unconquerable power of calmness. Her taunts were useless. She turned and rushed from the room. Outside on the stairs were two men, and her first impression was that perhaps they were officers of justice come to seize Léon, until she saw that one was her brother himself and the other M. Georges.