CHAPTER XXXVI.
SUPREME EFFORT.
Monsieur de Fongereues was alone in his cabinet. Magdalena had left him only a few moments before. A violent scene had taken place between the husband and wife.
The ruin that threatened the Fongereues mansion had been temporarily staved off by the marriage that had been arranged between Irène and the Vicomte, but as soon as the world knew that the marriage was broken off, the tongues of gossips began to wag.
The Fongereues felt that their doom was sealed when they knew that Irène's millions were forever lost to them. Then this unhappy pair began to quarrel. To Magdalena's violent reproaches Fongereues answered by violent recriminations. Was it not her senseless indulgence that had caused the Vicomte to become the depraved and worthless person upon whom every one now turned a cold shoulder? If they were ruined, was it not because of the mad extravagance of mother and son?
And Magdalena replied:
"If I have been weak, was it not still more your duty to be strong? Who is the proper guide for a young man if not his father? You have been faithless to your duties, and, moreover, has he a vice which is not yours?"
Fongereues foamed with rage, and before he could speak his wife had the audacity to say:
"You are choked by the blood of your brother!"