“It will be too late, after my speech, they will always believe that I have yielded to fear; and it will be too soon before; they might think that you feared my revelations.”
“Then I see there is no way out of this difficulty, and that all I can do for you, is to give you the satisfaction that you require. Depend upon my word and my silence. On leaving the palace to-morrow, you will find me at whatever place you may appoint.”
We made our arrangements. After which the young officer observed with a mournful and affectionate air:
“This is a bad piece of business for me, monsieur, for should I be so unfortunate as to kill you, I believe I would then kill myself for having placed a man of so much feeling as yourself in a position, where he must of necessity stake his life against mine. God grant that the result may not prove too serious. It will be a lesson for me. And meanwhile, whatever happens, bear in mind my repentance, and do not have too poor an opinion of me. It is too true that the world brings us up badly, we young men of family. We forget that the bourgeoisie is as good as we are, and that the time has come to recognize this fact. Come, give me your hand now, while we prepare to cut each other’s throats!”
Madame d’Ionis was to come to town the next day to be present at the trial. I had received several very friendly letters from her in which she no longer strove to influence my sense of duty as a lawyer, and in which she contented herself with advising me to respect the honor of her relatives, who could not, she said, be despised or offended without reflecting disgrace upon herself. It was easy to see that she counted upon her presence to restrain me, in case I should be carried away by oratorical fervor.
She was mistaken in thinking that she exercised any power over me. I was now governed by a higher influence, by a souvenir of an altogether different nature than her own.
Again I conversed with my father in the evening and prevailed upon him to leave me at liberty to take my own view of the moral side of the affair. He bade me good-night, saying at the same time in rather a reproving tone, which I understood no more than I did his words:
“My dear child, have a care. Madame d’Ionis is thine oracle I know, but I greatly fear that she is only making use of thee to advance the interests of another.” And as he observed my astonishment, he added:
“We will talk that over later on. Think only of acquitting thyself well to-morrow, and of doing honor to thy father.”
Just as I was getting into bed, I was surprised to see a bow of green ribbon pinned to my pillow. I took it up and felt that it contained a ring; it was the emerald star which I remembered but as a feverish dream. This mysterious ring really existed then; it had been given back to me.