Tell me about it, I beg you, dear old Lucien!"

"I heard about it from Juliette, to whom, as I just told you, Madame Dermont confides all her sorrows."

"But these troubles of hers? these troubles? for G.o.d's sake, come to the point!"

Lucien looked at Adhemar with a smile, as he replied:

"How deeply interested you seem to be in anything that concerns that young woman! Can it be, by any chance----"

"Yes, yes, I love her, I adore her, I am mad over her! And these troubles?--in pity's name, my friend, tell me all you know!"

"Madame Dermont, as you know, is a widow; but her husband had a brother,--a sad scamp, by the way,--who would never do anything but drink, gamble, smoke, and haunt low resorts. When Monsieur Dermont died, Alexandre--that was the brother's name--Alexandre was frantic with rage when he found that he was not his heir, but that the whole fortune--rather a modest one, by the way--which his brother had left went to the widow. He called on his sister-in-law, made an unpleasant scene, and went so far as to threaten her; but she has a clear head and a strong character, and she turned him out of the house. Thereupon, Alexandre saw that he had gone to work in the wrong way, and that he would not obtain anything from Madame Dermont by threats; so he called on her again, and that time he did not play the swashbuckler, but wept and whined over his sad plight. The young widow did not turn him out again, but gave him five hundred francs and advised him to enlist; that was the only profession in which he could hope to make anything of himself. Alexandre promised to follow that advice; but, after a few months, he came back to his sister-in-law and told her he was dying of hunger, that he had eaten nothing since the day before; and he smelt horribly of brandy and tobacco!"

"And tobacco? He smoked, did he? Ah! now I understand. Poor woman! But why didn't she tell me all this?"

"Why? Because it is a painful thing to say that a man who is closely allied to you, who bears your name,--for Alexandre's name is Dermont,--in fact, you don't like to confess that such a ne'er-do-well, such a blackguard, is your brother, or that he has, at all events, the right to call you his sister."

"And the wretch has come again to torment Nathalie, I suppose?"

"Mon Dieu! yes; she doesn't know how to get rid of him! And yet, it is very hard to continue giving money away when it serves only to encourage vice and debauchery."

"Oh! I'll rid her of her miserable brother-in-law! Dear Nathalie! But why didn't she confide in me? No matter! I am a wretch; I am unworthy to be loved by such a sweet, dear woman!--Lucien, give me your hand. Ah! my friend, if you knew how much good you have done me! You have brought me back to life, to happiness, to love--that is to say, to her! Adieu, Lucien, adieu! I hasten--I fly to beg for forgiveness. She will grant it, won't she? she will grant it?"

Without waiting for a reply, Adhemar walked hurriedly away in the direction of Madame Dermont's; but when he drew near, and could see the house in which she lived, he slackened his pace; he began to wonder how she, whom he had left so cavalierly in consequence of his unjust suspicions, would receive him. And when he reached the door, he stopped; he dared not go in, but cudgelled his brain to find some pretext, some excuse, for calling.

He had been standing for some minutes, irresolute, before the porte cochere, when he was abruptly pushed aside by a person who said to him in a hoa.r.s.e voice as he entered the house:

"Stand aside there! Don't you see that you're blocking up the door?"

The speaker was a man of about thirty, very carelessly dressed, whose hat was dented in several places; his face was prematurely old and bloated, his manner was vulgar and impertinent, he was saturated with tobacco, and seemed to be slightly tipsy.

"Where are you going, monsieur?" the concierge called to him as he pa.s.sed through the porte cochere and started for the staircase, while Adhemar, who was on the point of calling him to account for the discourteous way in which he had pushed him aside, waited to hear his reply.

"Where am I going? Sacrebleu! you know well enough; this ain't the first time I've been here! I'm going up to my sister's--Madame Dermont."

"Madame Dermont is out, monsieur."

"You always say the same thing; and you know that I go up, all the same."

"I have been expressly forbidden to let you go up, monsieur, and this time you shan't go!"

"I shan't go up! is that all, old dormouse? Just think of that! Madame Dermont won't receive me! But I am Alexandre Dermont, her husband's brother, and she has no right to close her door to me; and I'm going up, all the same, and you can go hang, concierge! And my sister-in-law will have to receive me, because--because----"

Monsieur Alexandre did not finish his sentence, because someone stood before him, barring his pa.s.sage, and forced him back, looking him steadily in the eye.

"Well, well!" he muttered; "what does this fellow want?--Let me pa.s.s, I say!"

"I want you--yes, you, Monsieur Alexandre Dermont."

"I don't know you--let me go upstairs!"

"You shall not go upstairs, you shall not go to your sister-in-law's, who is perfectly justified in refusing to admit a miserable wretch, a scoundrel of your stamp!"

"What! what do you say? What business is it of yours?"

"I say that you're a low-lived hound, that you call on Madame Dermont for no other purpose than to worm money out of her, which you spend in orgies and debauchery! And you are not ashamed to be guilty of such conduct! Do you think that Madame Dermont's modest fortune will serve to gratify your pa.s.sions forever? No, monsieur; don't count upon it. I forbid you--do you hear?--I forbid you to show your face at your sister-in-law's again!"

"By what right, I should like to know?"

"By the right that every decent man has to protect a woman who is abused and threatened and robbed!"

"Oh! you make me tired! I propose to go up."

And Monsieur Alexandre, turning half around, tried to reach the stairway. But Adhemar overtook him, seized him by the throat, and held him against the wall, saying:

"If you make another attempt to go up those stairs, I'll smash your head against this wall!"

"You're choking me, monsieur!"

"Did you hear me?"

"Yes; but let me go!"

"Will you swear never to come to Madame Dermont's again?"

"Yes, I swear; but you are murdering me! I left a pipe case at my sister's; I came to get it."

"You didn't come on any such paltry errand as that; you came to ask that lady for more money, dastard that you are!"

"You insult me, monsieur!"

"Ah! you feel that you are insulted, do you? Very well! if you have the least bit of pluck, come with me, and I'll give you satisfaction.

There's a gunsmith's close by; we can go there and get pistols, and take a cab. Come!"

"I, fight! I think I see myself! no, thanks! Let me go; I've had enough!

I swear I won't come here again."

"Go, then; but if you fail to keep that oath, I swear that I won't fail to shoot you!"

Monsieur Alexandre did not stay to listen to any more; he ran away as if he feared pursuit. Thereupon the concierge, who had armed himself with his broom to support Adhemar if necessary, exclaimed:

"Ah! monsieur, how lucky it is that you happened to be here to drive that miserable scamp away! He wouldn't listen to me--but you! Why, you gave him such a shaking that I warrant he'll never come again. You have done Madame Dermont a very great service, I promise you!"

"Has she really gone out?"

"No, monsieur, no; she hardly ever goes out lately; but those were my orders for that rascal. You can go up, of course; she'll be glad to see you."

Adhemar went upstairs, but paused at Nathalie's door; he was intensely excited.