The hour had now come for the denouement of that home tragedy which was being enacted in the Rue St. Gilles.
The reader will remember the incidents narrated at the beginning of this story, - M. de Thaller's visit and angry words with M. Favoral, his departure after leaving a package of bank-notes in Mlle.
Gilberte's hands, the advent of the commissary of police, M.
Favoral's escape, and finally the departure of the Saturday evening guests.
The disaster which struck Mme. Favoral and her children had been so sudden and so crushing, that they had been, on the moment, too stupefied to realize it. What had happened went so far beyond the limits of the probable, of the possible even, that they could not believe it. The too cruel scenes which had just taken place were to them like the absurd incidents of a horrible nightmare.
But when their guests had retired after a few commonplace protestations, when they found themselves alone, all three, in that house whose master had just fled, tracked by the police, - then only, as the disturbed equilibrium of their minds became somewhat restored, did they fully realize the extent of the disaster, and the horror of the situation.
Whilst Mme. Favoral lay apparently lifeless on an arm-chair, Gilberte kneeling at her feet, Maxence was walking up and down the parlor with furious steps. He was whiter than the plaster on the halls; and a cold perspiration glued his tangled hair to his temples.
His eyes glistening, and his fists clinched, "Our father a thief!" he kept repeating in a hoarse voice, "a forger!"
And in fact never had the slightest suspicion arisen in his mind.
In these days of doubtful reputations, he had been proud indeed of M. Favoral's reputation of austere integrity. And he had endured many a cruel reproach, saying to himself that his father had, by his own spotless conduct, acquired the right to be harsh and exacting.
"And he has stolen twelve millions!" he exclaimed.
And he went on, trying to calculate all the luxury and splendor which such a sum represents, all the cravings gratified, all the dreams realized, all it can procure of things that may be bought.
And what things are not for sale for twelve millions!
Then he examined the gloomy home in the Rue St. Gilles, - the contracted dwelling, the faded furniture the prodigies of a parsimonious industry, his mother's privations, his sister's penury, and his own distress. And he exclaimed again, "It is a monstrous infamy!"
The words of the commissary of police had opened his eyes; and he now fancied the most wonderful things. M. Favoral, in his mind, assumed fabulous proportions. By what miracles of hypocrisy and dissimulation had he succeeded in ****** himself ubiquitous as it were, and, without awaking a suspicion, living two lives so distinct and so different, - here, in the midst of his family, parsimonious, methodic, and severe; elsewhere, in some illicit household, doubtless facile, smiling, and generous, like a successful thief.
For Maxence considered the bills found in the secretary as a flagrant, irrefutable and material proof.
Upon the brink of that abyss of shame into which his father had just tumbled, he thought he could see, not the inevitable woman, that incentive of all human actions, but the entire legion of those bewitching courtesans who possess unknown crucibles wherein to swell fortunes, and who have secret filters to stupefy their dupes, and strip them of their honor, after robbing them of their last cent.
"And I," said Maxence, - " I, because at twenty I was fond of pleasure, I was called a bad son! Because I had made some three hundred francs of debts, I was deemed a swindler! Because I love a poor girl who has for me the most disinterested affection, I am one of those rascals whom their family disown, and from whom nothing can be expected but shame and disgrace!"
He filled the parlor with the sound of his voice, which rose like his wrath.
And at the thought of all the bitter reproaches which had been addressed to him by his father, and of all the humiliations that had been heaped upon him, "Ah, the wretch!" he fairly shrieked, " - the coward!"
As pale as her brother, her face bathed in tears, and her beautiful hair hanging undone, Mlle. Gilberte drew herself up.
"He is our father, Maxence," she said gently.
But he interrupted her with a wild burst of laughter. "True," he answered; "and, by virtue of the law which is written in the code, we owe him affection and respect."
"Maxence! "murmured the girl in a beseeching tone. But he went on, nevertheless, "Yes, he is our father, unfortunately. But I should like to know his titles to our respect and our affection. After ****** our mother the most miserable of creatures, he has embittered our existence, withered our youth, ruined my future, and done his best to spoil yours by compelling you to marry Costeclar. And, to crown all these deeds of kindness, he runs away now, after stealing twelve millions, leaving us nothing but misery and a disgraced name.
"And yet," he added, "is it possible that a cashier should take twelve millions, and his employer know nothing of it? And is our father really the only man who benefitted by these millions?"
Then came back to the mind of Maxence and Mlle. Gilberte the last words of their father at the moment of his flight, " I have been betrayed; and I must suffer for all!"
And his sincerity could hardly be called in question; for he was then in one of those moments of decisive crisis in which the truth forces itself out in spite of all calculation.
"He must have accomplices then," murmured Maxence.
Although he had spoken very low, Mme. Favoral overheard him. To defend her husband, she found a remnant of energy, and, straightening herself on her seat, "Ah! do not doubt it," she stammered out. "Of his own inspiration, Vincent could never have committed an evil act. He has been circumvented, led away, duped!"
"Very well; but by whom?"
"By Costeclar," affirmed Mlle. Gilberte.
