"In a word, sir," said Croustillac, turning toward the envoy with an indignant and sorrowful manner, "you know why I returned, what my plans were; what I would have placed upon the brow of madame. Ah, well, is it not a frightful irony of fate that at this very moment a wife--a criminal----" "Your highness," cried De Chemerant, interrupting the Gascon, "at present these projects must be a secret from madame." "I know it; I know it! but then what a horrible surprise! I enter with a heart beating with joy, into the home circle, into my peaceful home, and what is it that I hear?" "Your highness----" "You have heard it as well as I. That is not all--what is it that I see?" "Your highness, calm yourself." "You have seen, as I have, a mulatto outlaw. But this shall not stop here, no, by St. George! Yes, I did well to call you. Now my anger boils; the most cruel plans crowd in upon my imagination. Yes, yes, that is it;" said Croustillac, with a meditative air. "I have it at last! I have found a revenge fitting the offence!" "Your highness, the contempt----" "The contempt--that is very easy for you to say, sir, contempt. No, sir, there remains another thing; I have found something better, and you shall assist me." "Your highness, anything that depends upon my zeal, without prejudice to the orders which I have received, and the success of my mission." "I renounce and cast off this unworthy woman. From this day, from this moment, all is forever at an end between her and me." "Thank God!" cried De Chemerant, delighted with this resolve; "you could not act more wisely." "To-morrow at daybreak," said the Gascon, in a curt tone, "she and her odious accomplice will embark on board of one of my vessels." CHAPTER XXVI. DEVOTION. "Yes, sir!" repeated the Gascon, "to-morrow my wife and this miserable wretch shall go aboard one of my vessels. That is all my vengeance," continued he, dwelling on these words with savage irony. "Oh, I know what I am doing. Yes, by heaven! She and her guilty accomplice, those two, as if they were really husband and wife, the miserable wretches! shall embark together. As to the destination of the vessel," said the chevalier, with a glance of such horrible ferocity that De Chemerant was struck by it, "as to the fate that awaits these guilty ones, I cannot tell you, sir; that concerns no one but myself." Then, taking Angela roughly by the arm, Croustillac exclaimed, "Ah, you desire a mulatto for a lover, duchess? very well, you shall have him. And you, scoundrel, you must have a white woman, a duchess? very well you shall have her. You shall never separate, tender lovers that you are, never again; but you do not know at what a terrible price you will be reunited." "Your highness, what do you intend to do?"