As to Théophraste, after the guests had disappeared from the tent, he
climbed down from the table. He found it more difficult to reach the
floor than it had been to climb upon the table, and he knelt down,
taking great precaution not to fall. He then assumed his natural self
and called Marceline. She did not answer him, and in searching for
her he found her trembling with fright in her room. He closed the door
carefully and prepared to give an explanation. She looked at him with
her large eyes, amazed, filled with tears, and he felt it his duty as a
husband not to conceal from her any longer this extraordinary phenomenon
which had been preoccupying his mind.
The night was ideal, and after they had retired he said to her, “My
dear Marceline, you cannot understand what has happened to me this
evening, and I can assure you I don’t understand myself, but in
telling you all I know perhaps we can arrive at some conclusion.”
He then related all the details of his visits to the cellars of the
Conciergerie. He concealed nothing, and sketched in minute details the
extraordinary feelings which had actuated him that evening, and the
unknown influence which had commanded him. At first she said nothing,
but softly moved away from him as if afraid of him; but when he came to
the document which revealed the existence of the treasures, she demanded
to see it at once. He judged then that she was taking an interest in the
adventure and felt thankful. They got up and he showed her the paper in
the light of the full moon, which was streaming into the room. Like
all those who had seen it before, she recognized the handwriting
immediately, and made the sign of the cross as if fearing some sorcery.
Marceline was not a fool, but explained that she could not help making
the sign. However, she soon became composed, and began to praise
Adolphe, who, in spite of Théophraste’s disapproval, had initiated
her into the elements of spiritualism, a science she said which would be
of some service to Théophraste in his condition. But even in the face
of that uncontestable evidence she found it difficult to believe that he
was a reincarnated spirit dating back two hundred years, until he asked
her who she thought he had been.
Marceline didn’t think that he had been a very great personage, and in
reply to his disappointed inquiry she said:
“Because this evening you sang in slang, and the ladies whose names
you mentioned do not belong to the aristocracy. People who frequented
La Terpidere, La Platire, Manon de Versailles, I think are not of much
account.”
“But I also mentioned the leader of the Bouffleurs,” replied
Théophraste, “and you know that morals were so dissolute under the
Regency of the Duke of Orleans that the fashion at Court was to call the
ladies in slighting terms. What do you think of the idea of me being the
Bastard of the Regent?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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