“I gave it,” murmured Micheline.
“You gave it!” repeated the mistress in a tone of anger. “When?”
“The day after my marriage.”
“Your husband had the impudence to ask for it the day after your marriage?”
Micheline smiled.
“He did not ask for it, mamma,” she replied, with sweetness; “I offered it to him. You had settled all on me.”
“Prudently! With a fellow like your husband!”
“Your mistrust must have been humiliating to him. I was ashamed of it. I said nothing to you, because I knew you would rather prevent the marriage, and I loved Serge. I, therefore, signed the contract which you had had prepared. Only the next day I gave a general power of attorney to my husband.”
Madame Desvarennes’s anger was over. She was observing Micheline, and wished to find out the depth of the abyss into which her daughter had thrown herself with blind confidence.
“And what did he say then?” she inquired.