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Madame Dammauville's story is not known to the law, or, if something transpires, we will arrange that this something is so vague that the prosecution will attach but little importance to it. And this is possible if we do not base a new defence on this testimony.
She could not apply her mind to search for that which agonized her, and she could not close her eyes and ears to what she saw and heard. And what struck them were the same observations, turning always in the same circle, applied to the same subjects and persons: Caffie's name irritated him; Madame Dammauville's angered him; Florentin's made him positively unhappy.
After Caffie's death this tranquil and refreshing sleep continued the same; but suddenly, after Madame Dammauville's death, it became broken. At first it did not bother him. He did not sleep, so much the better! He would work more. But one can no more work all the time than one can live without eating.
Evidently, the first thing to do was to prevent a suspicion from arising in Phillis's mind, and it was to this that he applied himself on explaining the different kinds of paralysis. He knew her well enough to know that he had succeeded. But what would she do now? How did she mean to make use of Madame Dammauville's declaration? Had she spoken of it to any one besides himself?
Saniel promised promptness. The dinner was a favorable circumstance, enabling him to escape from Madame Dammauville's before the lamps would be lighted. When Balzajette was gone, he rejoined Phillis in the dining-room. "A consultation is arranged for to-morrow at six o'clock, at Madame Dammauville's." She threw herself on his breast. "I knew that you would forgive me."
The only question that deserved serious consideration just now was to know where this meeting would be the least dangerous for him at Madame Dammauville's or at the Palais? He reflected silently, paying no more attention to Phillis than if she were not present, his eyes fixed, his brow contracted, his lips tightly closed, when the doorbell rang. As Joseph was at his post, Saniel did not move.
With a small lamp in her hand, she conducted him through the dining-room and the salon to Madame Dammauville's bedroom. At the threshold, a glance showed him that some changes had been made in the arrangement of the furniture. The small bed where he had seen Madame Dammauville was placed between the two windows, and she was lying in a large bed with canopy and curtains.
His anguish was violent; when he recovered he continued: "What is it in this way of living that has made you uneasy?" "Your constant care not to commit yourself " "Commit myself how?" "I do not know " "What else?" "The anger that you show, or the embarrassment, when the name of Caffie is pronounced, Madame Dammauville's, and Florentin's "
Then, all at once, a short time before Florlentin went to the assizes, occurred these strange explosions of temper, spasms of anger, and restlessness that she could not explain, manifesting themselves exactly at the time when, by Madame Dammauville's intervention, she hoped Florentin would be saved.
He went straight to the end, only asking and seeking the indispensable; and as Madame Dammauville's replies were as precise as his questions, while listening and putting in a word from time to time he said to himself that his dinner would not be delayed, which was the chief point of his preoccupation.
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