"Damn you, you little beast," he cried, wiping his face which was smarting terribly, and he raised his fist as if to strike back; but his natural caution, together with the fear that if he pushed matters too far he might lose all chance of possessing her, checked him, and pausing for a moment he suppressed his anger, and rapidly changed his tactics.
"My darling pet!" he exclaimed after a short pause in the mildest of voices, "you really look more lovely than ever when you are in a temper," and he tried to encircle her waist again.
But she shook him off with a violent effort, while trembling from head to foot. "Go! go, and never let me see you again. Henri, Henri," she shrieked at the top of her voice as he still continued his attentions. "Help me! Help me!"
Renée attempted to escape, and rose up with the idea of doing so, but her limbs trembled so much that she was quite unable to walk, and dropping into her seat from sheer exhaustion, buried her face in her hands, and burst into an uncontrollable flood of tears.
Pierre was becoming really frightened at what he had done, and proceeded to apologise for his conduct, but she showed no signs of having heard him.
Fearing lest her sobs and cries would attract the household, Pierre stepped back shrugging his shoulders, and with a scarcely audible adieu, he hurried out of the garden humming an air to himself, and disappeared down the street in the direction of the Avenue Rossini, and hailing a passing fiacre, ordered the coacher to drive rapidly to his father's house.
"Who was that chap she kept calling out to help her," he kept saying to himself in the cab. "Henri, Henri—oh, of course, that is the Christian name of that humbug Delapine. Now I remember seeing him once squeeze her hand under the table when they thought no one was looking. I can see it all clearly now. She is in love with the professor. That explains why she was so cold to me, and why she was so furious when I kissed her. What a fool I was not to see it before. Otherwise she would have been only too proud for a wealthy, handsome fellow like me to pay her attention. It is Delapine who has drawn her away from me—curse him. If it had not been for that interfering fellow she would have thrown herself into my arms. Never mind, I will have her yet, in spite of all his fine tricks, and that before many days are over." Chuckling to himself at the sweet thought of revenge, he entered the house.
"Hullo, Pierre my boy, where have you been?" asked the General, as his son entered the room.
"Oh, I've just been over to Dr. Villebois' house."
"Oh fie, so you've been over there to see the pretty bird in its cage, have you? Well, I'm only too delighted to hear it. I could not wish you to marry a better girl. Payot and I have had a little chat about it, and we have come to the conclusion that it will suit our books to a 'T,' if you become her fiancé. The whole thing has been arranged between us, and all you have to do is to go and propose to her and the thing is done. Nothing could possibly be easier. I know she has a soft place in her heart for you, and if she hadn't it is not likely that she would be such a fool as to refuse a man of your position and wealth."