IX.
Shortly after this interview the baron returned to Paris, apparently calmer than usual.
“He is much better,” said Mme. la Baronne. “The doctor alarmed me terribly; but I knew very well in reality there was no danger. My husband is a cold man, and I have nothing to fear for his reason.”
The following night the baron waited until the house was quiet, and then went on tiptoe, as though afraid of being surprised or disturbed. Once safely in his picture gallery, he cut each of the pictures with a penknife, and then one by one burst them open by placing his knee against the canvas; and, that accomplished, left the house toward morning. The porter saw him pass, but did not recognize him.
“Who is that old man,” said he to his wife, “who passed the night in the house?”
The baron's hair, black the night before, was white as snow.
They waited for him at breakfast, they waited for him at dinner; he did not return. In searching his papers his wife found a note containing these words:
“This time I will not escape; the police are on my track.”
Said madame: “I always feared some misfortune would happen to me.”
The next day the baron's body was found in the Seine under the bridge of Austerlitz.