"Very good, madame; you may retire."
It was none too soon. Lise Olsdorf could hardly stand, though she was leaning against the side of the door-way. She had stifled a cry of surprise.
She had recognized Vera Soublaieff in the young girl lying in the bed of this room, and she felt a jealous pang at her heart, while her pride was cruelly humiliated at the same time.
So it was the daughter of one of his farmers whom Pierre Olsdorf had chosen to play the part of his mistress in this domestic drama. Before Vera, who knew her, and whose humble homage she had so often received, she must bow the head! Ah, it was too much; and she had been a stupid simpleton up to now in regarding her husband's conduct as chivalrous. He was but a man like other men; he had eagerly snatched at the chance to gratify a caprice no doubt of long standing. Who could say? Perhaps she had been first deceived.
She had, of course, heard and read in the newspapers that Prince Olsdorf was openly to be seen in Paris with an adorable young girl; but, forced to go out very rarely by reason of the stir that her divorce made and the victim's part that she had to play, she had never met the two lovers. As for Paul Meyrin, it can easily be surmised that he was careful not to show himself where he might be face to face with the man whose wife, by his order, he was to marry.
Lise Barineff, therefore, had no reason to expect to surprise Vera Soublaieff in her husband's arms; and the sight of this young girl, who had so often stooped to kiss her hand, was well fitted, in the actual circumstances of the scene, to make her forget her own fault and to rouse all her pride.
These thoughts made her raise her head, and very likely she would have smiled scornfully upon Vera, but that a look from Pierre Olsdorf reminded her of the shame of her situation and commanded her retreat.
She obeyed.
"My only further duty, prince," the commissary of police then continued, "is to draw up my report witnessing as against you the presence of a concubine in the conjugal dwelling, to make the search prescribed by the law, and to expel your accomplice from this room."
Vera, whom astonishment and fear had up to now made silent, could not keep back a cry of indignation at this threat. Her innocence could not now hinder her from understanding the truth. She the mistress of Prince Olsdorf!