"In view of her very evident determination to drive you to extremities, I do not pretend to advise you to be patient. War is declared, the hostilities are not of our making. Our proper course is to avoid retreating."
But Marcel had no time to fight. He had at his heels two or three solicitors of decidedly unsavory renown, who talked of selling at auction, and who would grant no further delay. He thought that they must submit to the marchioness's demands. He went to Julie and told her so.
"They are robbing you," he said; "indeed I fear that they may force you, in case you resist, to part with the slender capital you inherit from your own family. It is absolutely certain that the count's debts, with the accumulated interest, will absorb much more than what you still retain of his fortune. The Marquise d'Estrelle desires to occupy, or at all events to own, the hôtel D'Estrelle."
"And its appurtenances?" queried Julie; "the pavilion too?"
"The pavilion too. My aunt must have something to indemnify her for moving; another point to fight over, but one in which you are not interested."
Julie made no reply, but became profoundly sad. The idea of being ruined, of being reduced to twelve hundred francs a year, had not hitherto presented itself very clearly to her mind: but to leave forever that lovely house and that delightful garden, which had become so dear to her in the past few weeks; to lose that proximity to the pavilion, the fascination and the perfect security of those nocturnal interviews—that was a genuine catastrophe! A whole world of bliss crumbled to dust behind her. One phase of the purest happiness she had ever known was brutally closed, before she had any time to prepare for it.
Marcel returned at once to the marchioness's notary. He found him very domineering in face of the countess's concessions—not as a man, for he was a most gallant individual, but as the agent engaged to contest his client's cause foot by foot. Moreover he had been warned against Julie, and he saw in her only a foolish young woman, determined to sacrifice everything to illicit passions. Marcel could not contain himself; he lost his temper, swore on his honor that there were no secret relations between the countess and his cousin, that they hardly knew each other, and that Julie was the purest of women and the most worthy of respect and compassion. Marcel had the reputation of an exceedingly upright man: the warmth of his convictions shook the notary; but, recurring to the marchioness's rights, he showed that she was mistress of the situation, and that the countess would be very fortunate to extricate herself in any way that the other chose to allow.
However, he promised to do his utmost to bring her to a more generous frame of mind toward her stepson's widow. The next day he announced, in a letter to Marcel, that the marchioness desired to inspect the hôtel D'Estrelle, which she had not entered for a long time. She desired to see for herself the condition of the property and then to have an appraisal made and discussed in her presence by her advisers and the countess's. It was easy to see, from the tone of this letter, that the notary had displeased his client by pleading the moral side of Julie's cause, as he had promised to do, and that he himself was far from pleased with the dowager's suspicions and harsh dealing.
He appeared with her on the same day. Julie, preferring not to see her heartless enemy again, locked herself into her boudoir, leaving the doors of all the other rooms open.
The Marquise d'Estrelle was a shrewish Norman. In Madame d'Ancourt's circle she was called Madame de Pimbeche, Orbeche, etc. She was accused of borrowing money by the year to lend secretly at usurious rates. This may have been an exaggeration; but it is certain that, if she expended a considerable sum to set Julie free, she proposed to recoup herself on the details. The promptness with which she came to make this sort of expert inspection demonstrated that purpose.