The pleasure, however, of being free, and of meeting applause where I most desired it, was, indeed, a little alloyed by the necessity of communicating to Monsieur de Villardin the confession--for such, in fact, it was--of Suzette. I knew not what effect it might ultimately have upon his mind, whether good or bad--whether the knowledge of having injured an innocent and virtuous woman who had loved him dearly, and was passionately loved by him, might not send the sting of remorse still deeper into his heart--especially if the fearful suspicions which I entertained were just; or, whether, on the other hand, the discovery that he had been worked upon and deceived by designing people and an artful scheme, that he had been cheated into all the acts he had committed, and almost driven mad himself by a plot which he could hardly have divined, might not take away some portion of the responsibility which now weighed so heavy upon him, and cast a part of the load of culpability upon other shoulders. At all events, I knew that the very renewal of a subject which had never been mentioned for several years, would reawaken a world of painful memories, some of which I trusted now slept; and I shrunk from the task I had undertaken, hoping from day to day that something would occur to render its execution less difficult. Monsieur de Villardin, however, seemed also to avoid the topic altogether; and although he knew that I had seen Suzette several times, and must in his own mind have connected her name with the memory of his unhappy wife, yet he never mentioned the circumstance after our arrival at St. Denis, and seemed purposely to turn from any reference to Gaspard de Belleville and his wife. The matter was thus rendered more difficult to me; and, as I could not but remark that the gloom which I have before noticed, had taken a deeper hold of Monsieur de Villardin than ever--as, the moment that any active exertion was over, all energy seemed to abandon his mind, and as it pained me to think of increasing the deep and bitter melancholy in which he passed all his solitary hours, I still, as I have said, put off the task from day to day, till at length the army was ordered to march, and I had scarcely time to attend to anything else than the military duties in which I was now employed.