“Do you know the reason?” asked Lupin, completing his thought aloud.
“Yes, I know it.”
“Gilbert, perhaps?”
“No, Gilbert had disappeared for some years, turned out of doors and cursed by my husband. It was a very great sorrow, but there was another motive.”
“What was that?” asked Lupin.
But it was not necessary for Lupin to put further questions. Madame Mergy could keep silent no longer and, slowly at first, with all the anguish of that past which had to be called up, she told her story:
“Twenty-five years ago, when my name was Clarisse Darcel and my parents living, I knew three young men at Nice. Their names will at once give you an insight into the present tragedy: they were Alexis Daubrecq, Victorien Mergy and Louis Prasville. The three were old acquaintances, had gone to college in the same year and served in the same regiment. Prasville, at that time, was in love with a singer at the opera-house at Nice. The two others, Mergy and Daubrecq, were in love with me. I shall be brief as regards all this and, for the rest, as regards the whole story, for the facts tell their own tale. I fell in love with Victorien Mergy from the first. Perhaps I was wrong not to declare myself at once. But true love is always timid, hesitating and shy; and I did not announce my choice until I felt quite certain and quite free. Unfortunately, that period of waiting, so delightful for those who cherish a secret passion, had permitted Daubrecq to hope. His anger was something horrible.”
Clarisse Mergy stopped for a few seconds and resumed, in a stifled voice:
“I shall never forget it.... The three of us were in the drawing-room. Oh, I can hear even now the terrible words of threat and hatred which he uttered! Victorien was absolutely astounded. He had never seen his friend like this, with that repugnant face, that bestial expression: yes, the expression of a wild beast.... Daubrecq ground his teeth. He stamped his feet. His bloodshot eyes—he did not wear spectacles in those days—rolled in their sockets; and he kept on saying, ‘I shall be revenged.... I shall be revenged.... Oh, you don’t know what I am capable of!... I shall wait ten years, twenty years, if necessary.... But it will come like a thunderbolt.... Ah, you don’t know!... To be revenged.... To do harm . . . for harm’s sake... what joy! I was born to do harm.... And you will both beseech my mercy on your knees, on your knees, yes, on your knees....’ At that moment, my father entered the room; and, with his assistance and the footman’s, Victorien Mergy flung the loathsome creature out of doors. Six weeks later, I married Victorien.”
“And Daubrecq?” asked Lupin, interrupting her. “Did he not try....”