“As to give him any cause to separate from her? Well, no one knows the rights of the drama. She was very young and extremely beautiful. Many suppose that she was sacrificed to intrigues of her father’s.”
“But there must have been evidence against her,” said Mouse, who had a great dislike to this woman whom she had never seen.
“There is such a thing as suborned witnesses,” replied the Archduke. “Besides, in German courts divorce is given on slight grounds. Myself, I think Vanderlin regrets it, or else I do not know why a man of his years and his wealth should shut himself up away from the world as he does.”
“But he must be seen in Paris?”
“By men of business; scarcely anyone else. He never goes into society.”
“But you see him, sir?”
“On business, on business.”
“Could you not show me the château?”
“I grieve to refuse you, but I should not venture. I should look like Mephisto leading a temptress of the Venusberg to disturb an anchorite in a Paraclete.”
“What a fool he must be!” said Mouse with sincere conviction.