French fiction -- Translations into English; Paris (France) -- Fiction
Cayrol's heart was torn by anxiety, and with trembling voice he tried to
read the effect of his words on Jeanne's features. She had turned.
away. Cayrol bent toward her and said:
"You don't answer me."
And as she still remained silent, he took her hand and forced her to look
at him. He saw that her face was covered with tears. He shuddered, and
then flew into a terrible passion.
"You are crying! It is true then? You have loved?"
Jeanne rose with a bound; she saw her imprudence. She understood the
trap he had laid; her cheeks burned. Drying her tears, she turned toward
Cayrol, and cried:
"Who has said so?"
"You cannot deceive me," replied the banker, violently. "I saw it in
your looks. Now, I want to know the man's name!"
Jeanne looked him straight in the face.
"Never!" she said.
"Ah, that is an avowal!" exclaimed Cayrol.
"You have deceived me unworthily by your pretended kindness," interrupted
Jeanne, proudly, "I will not say anything more."
Cayrol flew at her--the churl reappeared. He muttered a fearful oath,
and seizing her by the arm, shouted:
"Take care! Don't play with me. Speak, I insist, or--" and he shook her
brutally.
Jeanne, indignant, screamed and tore herself away from him.
"Leave me," she said, "you fill me with horror!"
The husband, beside himself, pale as death and trembling convulsively,
could not utter a word, and was about to rush upon her when the door
opened, and Madame Desvarennes appeared, holding in her hand the letters
which she had written for Cayrol to take back to Paris. Jeanne uttered a
cry of joy, and with a bound threw herself into the arms of her who had
been a mother to her.
CHAPTER XI
CONFESSION
Madame Desvarennes understood the situation at a glance. She beheld
Cayrol livid, tottering, and excited. She felt Jeanne trembling on her
breast; she saw something serious had occurred. She calmed herself and
put on a cold manner to enable her the better to suppress any resistance
that they might offer.
"What is the matter?" she asked, looking severely at Cayrol.
"Something quite unexpected," replied the banker, laughing nervously.
"Madame refuses to follow me."
"And for what reason?" she asked.
"She dare not speak!" Cayrol resumed, whose excitement increased as he
spoke. "It appears she has in her heart an unhappy love! And as I do
not resemble the dreamed-of type, Madame has repugnances. But you
understand the affair is not going to end there. It is not usual to come
and say to a husband, twelve hours after marriage, 'Sir, I am very sorry,
but I love somebody else!' It would be too convenient. I shall not lend
myself to these whims."
"Cayrol, oblige me by speaking in a, lower tone," said Madame
Desvarennes, quietly. "There is some misunderstanding between you and
this child."
The husband shrugged his broad shoulders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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