On the morrow, the clock struck twelve, one, two, and no sign of the count.

"This isn't natural," thought f.a.n.n.y. "Something must certainly have happened. I remember, now, that Monsieur de la Beriniere was distraught, preoccupied, the last two evenings that he was here. I charged him with it, and he said I was mistaken. But I was not mistaken!--Justine, go down and ask the concierge if there isn't a letter for me; if a message hasn't come from the count. Those people often forget to tell you when anyone calls."

Justine soon returned, and informed her mistress that there were no letters and that no one had called. f.a.n.n.y placed herself at the window, and still there was no arrival.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, unable to remain inactive any longer, she said to her maid:

"Take a cab by the hour; here is Monsieur de la Beriniere's address; go there, and find out from the concierge if anything has happened to him; if he is ill, ask to see him, and tell him how deeply interested I am in his health. Go quickly, so that I may know what to think."

Justine went off in her cab. The pretty widow counted the minutes and kept looking at the clock. At last her servant returned. Her breathless, dismayed air made it evident enough that she had something to tell; and as she entered the room, she cried out, wringing her hands:

"Ah! madame, indeed there is something new. Oh! the poor count! what a calamity!"

"Heavens! Justine, is he dead?"

"No, madame; he isn't dead yet, but very near it!"

"What accident has happened to him, then?"

"No accident, madame; but a fight with swords--a duel, in fact!"

"The count has been fighting a duel?"

"Yes, madame; and yesterday morning they brought him home wounded. A bad sword-wound in the side, which might have been mortal! But it seems he's going to get well; the doctor hopes he will, but doctors are mistaken so often!"

"Oh! mon Dieu! Why, this is horrible! With whom did he fight?"

"His valet doesn't know, madame. The count didn't take him with him."

"Well, I will find out, I will find out. A duel! Who besides Gustave could have had the idea of fighting with Monsieur de la Beriniere? That fellow was born to be the bane of my life.--So you didn't see the count?"

"No, madame; the doctor said that n.o.body must see him to-day; but to-morrow, perhaps, that order will be changed."

"The poor count! if only he doesn't die! Just think, Justine, what an awful nuisance for me!"

"So it is. But if madame were a countess, it wouldn't be but half bad."

"You say the doctor promises that he will recover?"

"So the valet told me."

"Well, I will go myself to-morrow; but I must see my sister first."

"I thought that madame did not go to her father's now?"

"Oh! because in an outburst of anger he told me not to come again. As if he remembered that! Besides, it isn't my father that I want to see, but Adolphine."

The next morning, at eleven o'clock, Madame Monleard was ushered into the presence of her sister, who uttered a cry of surprise when she saw her.

"What! is it you, f.a.n.n.y?"

"To be sure; Madeleine told me that father had just gone out; I am glad of that."

"Oh! never fear; his anger has pa.s.sed away. It never lasts long with him, you know."

"But I am the one who is angry now."

"You! with whom?"

"With everybody. You pretend to be surprised; but you must know what has happened?"

"No. What can have happened to irritate you so?"

"I have good reason for it. Monsieur de la Beriniere fought a duel the day before yesterday, and was badly wounded; a little more and they'd have killed him for me!"

"Mon Dieu! with whom did he fight, in heaven's name?"

"Do you ask me that? You know well enough; indeed, it's easy enough to guess."

"I certainly cannot guess."

"Who but Gustave, in his rage, because I preferred the count to him?"

"Gustave? why, that is impossible. He left Paris a week ago; he came to say good-bye to us, and Monsieur de Raincy, who has just come from England, met him there."

"Is it possible that it wasn't Gustave? Then who could it have been--unless it was that tall swashbuckler who fought with Auguste?"

"Yes, it must have been he."

"That's it! that fellow seems to have the very devil in him! As soon as I am married, or when someone thinks of marrying me, he appears with his long sword. Why, it's a perfect outrage! Ah! that Monsieur Cherami! And I have been so polite to him, too--asked him to come to see me!"

"What! you asked him to come to see you? A man who had fought with your husband?"

"Well! what has that to do with it? You know perfectly well that they made it up. But I must go to inquire for the poor count. Perhaps I can see him to-day, and find out how this duel came about. Ah! mon Dieu! if Monsieur de la Beriniere should die, I should be a widow a second time, and without being a countess!"

f.a.n.n.y left Adolphine much disturbed and agitated by what she had heard.

The young widow drove to Monsieur de la Beriniere's house, and found that the doctor had revoked his orders of the day before; she could see the count, on condition that she would not let him talk much.

The young woman entered the sick-room with every manifestation of the keenest interest; she uttered heartfelt exclamations, sighed profoundly, and winked her eyes so often that she succeeded in making them very red.

The count smiled at his pretty visitor and held out his hand, which she seized and pressed to her bosom.

"If you had been killed," she cried, "I should not have survived you!

But who was the savage? How did this duel come about?"

"I am forbidden to talk," murmured the count, in a weak voice.

"Oh! of course, excuse me. My curiosity is very natural, however. Just a word: was it my old play-fellow with whom you fought?"