Finally he made the most careful inquiries in the offices of the Minister of the Interior in which the two men worked. Their rivalry and hatred of one another were known to all. Both of them, supported by people in high places, were the objects of a struggle both at the Ministry and at the Prefecture of Police, waged by powerful personages who battled above their heads. The service suffered from it. Either of them accused the other openly of serious derelictions from duty. There was talk of calling on them to resign. Which of them would be sacrificed?
One day, hidden behind the window curtain, Ralph watched Bregeac at Aurelie’s bedside. He was a bilious-looking person with a thin and yellow face. Of rather more than middle height, he carried himself with [[167]]something of an air, and at any rate he was a man of greater elegance and distinction than the vulgar Marescal.
Awaking suddenly, Aurelie caught sight of him bending over her, and said in harsh enough accents: “Leave me! Go away!”
“How you detest me and how you would love to injure me!” he murmured sadly.
“I should never injure the man that my mother married,” she said.
He gazed upon her with eyes full of suffering.
“You are very beautiful, my poor child,” he said. “But, alas, why have you always rejected my affection? Yes, I know that I was in the wrong. For a very long while I was only drawn to you by that secret you kept from me for no reason whatever. But if you had not been so stubborn in that absurd silence, I should never have dreamt of the love which now tortures me, for you will never love me—it is not possible that you should ever love me.”
She did not wish to listen to him and turned away her head.
However, he went on: “During your delirium you often spoke of revelations you wanted to make to me. Were they revelations about the secret, or about your senseless flight with that fellow William? Where did that outsider take you? What became of you before you took refuge in your convent?” [[168]]
She did not answer—either because she was too exhausted to answer, or because she disliked him too heartily.