In his then frame of mind, Adhémar preferred walking to riding; he craved air and exercise. He walked very rapidly, often without looking to see where he was going. However, he reached home in time, and had no sooner entered his study than he ran to his desk and seized his pen.
"I will write to her," he said to himself; "I cannot wait to tell her that I know of her treachery—and then everything will be at an end between us. I will try to forget her."
With a hand that trembled with excitement, although his thoughts caused it to move swiftly across the paper, he wrote Nathalie the following letter:
"MADAME:
"You will deceive me no more! this time I have seen—seen with my own eyes—that you devote to another the hours that I am not with you. And you told me that I was wrong to be jealous! Ah! your treachery is shameful! Why not have told me frankly that you no longer loved me? But women are never willing to be frank! It is a part of their nature to deceive. I knew it, and I should not have believed you. Adieu, madame, and this time it is really forever!"
Having signed and sealed this missive, Adhémar sent for a messenger and told him to carry it to the person to whom it was addressed, and to come away at once, without waiting for an answer.
Then, throwing himself into a chair, and resting his head on his hand, he abandoned himself to his thoughts, murmuring:
"Oh! if I could only forget her!"
XVIII
MONSIEUR SERINGAT'S SECRET
Dodichet, disinherited by his aunt, and with only a hundred francs that he could call his own, should have looked about for some occupation which would afford him a livelihood; but, instead of that, he bought more tobacco and cigars, went into a café and drank a glass of beer, then took a cab and was driven to the so-called hotel on Rue Saint-Jacques, where he had left Monsieur Seringat. He said to himself on the road: