ONE OF THE MOUTHS OF HELL
If the situation of the terrace at the top of the large garden, a spot where no one ever came and walled in by thick screens of trees, had afforded Aurelie and Ralph some weeks of absolute security, must it not be supposed that Marescal was going to get a few minutes he needed, and that Aurelie could hope for no help? Inevitably the scene would follow its course to the end willed by her enemy and the dénouement would be in accordance with his implacable will.
He was so sure of it that he did not hurry. He advanced slowly and stopped. The certainty of victory spoiled the harmony of his regular features and disturbed their usual immobility. A grin raised the left corner of his mouth and drew up the left half of his square beard. His teeth were shining; his eyes were hard and cruel.
He said in a jeering tone: “Well, mademoiselle, I think that things have turned out rather favorably for me. There is no way of escaping me, as at Beaucourt station, no means of driving me away, as in Paris. You will have to submit to the law of the stronger.”
Straight upright, with stiff arms, her fists clenched [[144]]on the stone bench, Aurelie gazed at him with an expression of wild anguish. Without a groan, she waited.
“How delightful it is to see you here, charming creature! When one loves in the rather excessive fashion in which I love you, it is not disagreeable to find one’s self confronted by revolt and terror. It makes one all the more eager to seize one’s prey. Magnificent prey,” he added in a low voice, “for you really are magnificently beautiful.”
Then he saw the open telegram and jeered again.
“That good fellow Bregeac, isn’t it, announcing his imminent arrival and your departure? I know, I know. For the last fortnight I’ve been keeping an eye on my beloved chief and I’m fully acquainted with his most secret plans. I have men devoted to me in his office. That is how I discovered your hiding-place and have been able to get here an hour or two ahead of him. I just had the time to study the ground, the forest, and the gorge, to catch sight of you in the distance and see you hurry up to this terrace. And I was able to climb up here and catch a glimpse of a figure leaving you. Some lover, wasn’t it?”
He made a few steps forward. She shrank away from him, and her back touched the lattice-work which ran round the bench. He lost his temper and cried: “That’s nice. I don’t suppose you shrank away like that just now when this lover was busy caressing you. Who is the happy man? A fiancé? More likely a [[145]]lover. I see that I have come just in time to look after my property and prevent the innocent boarder at Sainte-Marie from playing the fool! Ah, if ever I had suspected it!”
He curbed his anger and, bending over her, went on: “After all, all the better; it simplifies matters. The game I was playing was already excellent since I had all the trumps in my hands. But this is an extra piece of luck. Aurelie is not of an uncompromising virtue. One can rob and murder and escape the ditch—and now behold Aurelie quite ready to jump over all obstacles. Then why not in company? What, Aurelie, it may just as well be me as any one else, mayn’t it? If he has his advantages there are reasons in my favor which are not to be despised. What do you say, Aurelie?”