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"Do you pretend," said M. de Clameran, "to be ignorant of M. Fauvel's misfortune?" The clown looked very innocent, and asked: "What misfortune?" "The robbery of which M. Fauvel was the victim. It has been in everyone's mouth, and you must have heard of it." "Ah, yes, yes; I remember. His cashier ran off with three hundred and fifty thousand francs. Pardieu! It is a thing that almost daily happens.
He cocked the pistol for a fourth shot, when a man rushed into the room, snatched the pistol from the banker's hand, and, throwing him on the sofa, ran toward Mme. Fauvel. This man was M. Verduret, who had been warned by Cavaillon, but did not know that Mme. Gypsy had extracted the balls from M. Fauvel's revolver. "Thank Heaven!" he cried, "she is unhurt."
The servants moved about on their tiptoes, as silently as if a death had occurred in the family. About two o'clock, a servant came to M. Fauvel's study, and said that the Marquis de Clameran desired to see him. "What!" cried the banker; "does he dare " Then, after a moment's reflection, he added: "Ask him to walk up."
The day you find a man sufficiently intimate with Prosper to be aware of all the circumstances connected with this name, and at the same time on a footing with the Fauvel family which would give him the privilege of entering M. Fauvel's chamber, then, and not until then, will you discover the guilty party. On that day the problem will be solved."
"But, even if he stole three hundred and fifty thousand francs from your safe, does it follow that he also stole Mme. Fauvel's diamonds, and pawned them at the Mont-de-Piete, where they now are? "Warned as you are, if I were you, I would not be the subject of public scandal. I would watch my wife, and would be distrustful of handsome cousins.
Without stopping to consider the indelicacy of what he was about to do, he hurried into the young girl's room, and pulled open one drawer after another. What did he find? Not Mme. Fauvel's diamonds; but Madeleine's seven or eight boxes also empty. Great heavens! Was this gentle girl, whom he had treated as a daughter, an accomplice in this deed of shame?
Fauvel's diamonds?" This was a terrible blow to a man whose life hitherto had been an unbroken chain of prosperity, who could recall the past without one bitter regret, without remembering any sorrow deep enough to bring forth a tear. What! His wife deceive him!
"Did you ever hear," he asked Raoul, "of the man who burnt down his lady-love's house so as to have the bliss of carrying her out in his arms?" "Yes: what of it?" "At the proper time, I will charge you to set fire, morally, to Mme. Fauvel's house; and I will rush in, and save her and her niece.
"Yes," replied M. Fauvel, making an effort to control himself, "yes, for want of sufficient proof." "Exactly so, monsieur, and this want of proof, as stated in the decision of 'Not proven, ruins the prospects of my relative, and compels him to leave here at once for America." M. Fauvel's features relaxed as if he had been relieved of some fearful agony.
Fauvel to lower her eyes, and keep silent. "Give me the key, mother," he said in a tone of entreaty. "Oh, Raoul, Raoul!" "It is my life I am asking of you." These words decided her; she snatched up a candle, rushed into her chamber, opened the secretary, and took out M. Fauvel's key. But, when about to hand it to Raoul, she seemed to suddenly see the enormity of what she was doing.
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