“I will tell you. In the first place, I must find out when this duel is to take place.—Oh! those women! those women! they are the ones I want to be revenged on most of all! One is adored by Edmond, the other has won the heart of that——”
“Of that what?”
“It is enough for you to know that on the day when you announce to me the ruin of those two women, I will cover you with gold, I will give you as much of it as you can carry.”
“Bigre! I’ll be strong that day, I promise you!”
“It is broad daylight; don’t stay here. By-and-by, about six o’clock this afternoon, be at the end of my park—on the lonely road that skirts the wall.”
“Agreed; I will be there.”
Croque left the villa, and Thélénie hastened to her apartment.
XXII
REVELATION
While all these events were taking place at Goldfish Villa, let us see what was happening in the modest abode of Honorine and Agathe.
Edmond’s young betrothed was secretly unhappy at the thought that her beloved was going to Madame de Belleville’s fête. She remembered how that lady had stared at her the first time that she saw her at the summer-house window, and the familiar tone in which she had spoken to Edmond.