"What, madame, you propose——"
"Really, monsieur, I thought that you had more penetration; but, since I must explain everything to you, listen: this letter was——"
"For Comte Léodgard de Marvejols, madame."
"Even so, monsieur; ah! I am very glad that you have at least guessed that.—Now, do you not know that, in accordance with plans formed by our parents, Comte Léodgard was to have been my husband?"
"Your husband?—I did not know it."
"The alliance was earnestly desired by the count's father, and I should have complied with my father's last wishes. But Comte Léodgard would have none of me for his companion; he scorned the projected union—and all to marry a girl of the common people.—Monsieur le marquis, between men there are insults that are never forgiven, and for which they swear to wreak vengeance; do you think that among women one does not meet now and then one of those proud natures which cannot endure an insult? Well, I am such a woman. After I married you, my heart throbbed with joy when I saw that the count, when I first met him in society, seemed to admire my features and my figure, seemed, in short, to be enamored of my person. Then, monsieur, instead of turning my eyes in disdain, as others would have done perhaps in my place, I gave all my attention to him, fastening my eyes upon his and trying to impart to them an expression of languor, almost of tenderness; for at that party I said to myself: 'The time has come to avenge myself on that man who refused to marry me; I propose that he shall love me; I am determined to see him at my feet, swearing everlasting love, imploring me to reciprocate, and cursing the day when he refused my hand.'—That triumph I enjoyed, monsieur, on the evening that the count was admitted to this house.—But that was not enough; after pretending to be touched by his passion, I determined to appoint a meeting with him in some solitary, out-of-the-way place; but, I thought, he will not find me there; the man whose name I bear will go to that rendezvous and will take it upon himself to make my vengeance complete.—Well, monsieur le marquis, do you understand my conduct now?"
The marquis bent his knee before his wife and kissed her hand again and again, saying:
"I admire you, madame; I am proud to be your husband!—Pray forgive me for having misunderstood you for a moment. But if my jealousy was slow to burst forth, it was because, in the bottom of my heart, I could not believe in your treachery; it was because I remembered that you chose to become my wife of your own free will, without any constraint; and because I thought that you could not have assumed, solely to dishonor it, the name that is now yours.—Here, madame—take this note, send it by your maid, who is entirely at liberty now to leave the house. As for the rest, rely upon me to conclude this affair, and to punish the reckless man who, after being insane enough to spurn an alliance with you, dares now to address his solicitations to the wife of the Marquis de Santoval! I am well aware that Monsieur le Cardinal de Richelieu has forbidden duelling, that he punishes it very severely, in fact; but have no fear—it will all be between ourselves."
The weather was cold and dismal. A fine but steady rain made the streets of Paris very slippery where they were paved, and even more dangerous were those very numerous ones that had no pavements. At ten o'clock at night, in November, and in cold and rainy weather, one met very few people abroad. However, the famous Giovanni had ceased some time before to molest belated wayfarers, and people were beginning to hope that he had left Paris.
At a few minutes before ten, a man entered Place Royale, sheltering himself as well as he could in a cloak of greater breadth than length.