She hastened to bring him a glass of wine, which he emptied and handed back to her. "There wasn't any poison in it, was there?" he asked. This ghastly question and the smile which accompanied it, melted Bertha's callousness; remorse had already taken possession of her, as her disgust of Tremorel increased. "Poison?" she cried, eagerly, "never!" "You must give me some, though, presently, so as to help me to die." "You die, Clement? No; I want you to live, so that I may redeem the past. I am a wretch, and have committed a hideous crime--but you are good. You will live; I don't ask to be your wife, but only your servant. I will love you, humiliate myself, serve you on my knees, so that some day, after ten, twenty years of expiation, you will forgive me!" Hector in his mortal terror and anguish, was scarcely able to distinguish what was taking place. But he saw a dim ray of hope in Bertha's gestures and accent, and especially in her last words; he thought that perhaps it was all going to end and be forgotten, and that Sauvresy would pardon them. Half-rising, he stammered: "Yes, forgive us, forgive us!" Sauvresy's eyes glittered, and his angry voice vibrated as if it came from a throat of metal. "Forgive!" cried he, "pardon! Did you have pity on me during all this year that you have been playing with my happiness, during this fortnight that you have been mixing poison in all my potions? Pardon? What, are you fools? Why do you think I held my tongue, when I discovered your infamy, and let myself be poisoned, and threw the doctors off the scent? Do you really hope that I did this to prepare a scene of heartrending farewells, and to give you my benediction at the end? Ah, know me better!" Bertha was sobbing; she tried to take her husband's hand, but he rudely repulsed her. "Enough of these falsehoods," said he. "Enough of these perfidies. I hate you! You don't seem to perceive that hate is all that is still living in me." Sauvresy's expression was at this moment ferocious. "It is almost two months since I learned the truth; it broke me up, soul and body. Ah, it cost me a good deal to keep quiet--it almost killed me. But one thought sustained me; I longed to avenge myself. My mind was always bent on that; I searched for a punishment as great as this crime; I found none, could find none. Then you resolved to poison me. Mark this--that the very day when I guessed about the poison I had a thrill of joy, for I had discovered my vengeance!" A constantly increasing terror possessed Bertha, and now stupefied her, as well as Tremorel. "Why do you wish for my death? To be free and marry each other? Very well; I wish that also. The Count de Tremorel will be Madame Sauvresy's second husband." "Never!" cried Bertha. "No, never!" "Never!" echoed Hector.