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"No," she said, "if I let him out I shall have to divide the money." And without more thought of Robeccal she too went away. The hôtel of the Marquis de Fongereues was ablaze with lights. Magdalena having determined that her son's triumph should be dazzling, invitations had been sent to every one of distinction.
The door was thrown open at this moment, and a German officer appeared. Madame Fongereues rose hastily. "And what is the decision, Monsieur de Karlstein?" she asked. The officer bowed low to each of the three persons in the room, and then said, quietly: "To-morrow the allied armies will cross the French frontier."
Had he been dead, the heirs of the Fongereues would have applied to the courts. Then Pierre Labarre resumed his search, and an old man was continually seen on all the highways and by-ways of France, entering the humblest cottages and asking, in tremulous tones: "Do you remember? It was in 1814." But this was ten years ago. No one had seen two children flying for their lives.
"This individual," said Gudel, "is Cyprien, the man who does all the dirty work of his excellency the Marquis de Fongereues, going so far as to do a little poisoning on occasion." "Undo my chain!" cried Cyprien. "Not if I know it! But if you answer my questions, you shall have something to eat." "I am hungry!" murmured the rascal.
"Ah! yes," answered Fongereues, "my word of honor, I presume, is enough?" Fernando did not seem to think a reply incumbent upon him. He continued: "The man in whom the Society places enough confidence to entrust him with arms which will ensure his victory, should be bound to them by strong ties." Fongereues listened with interest and curiosity.
She knew that her mother had promised her hand to the Vicomte de Talizac, and she knew that if she made any resistance it would break her mother's heart; but as the hour drew near when her sacrifice was to be consummated, Irène felt herself very weak. She entered the Fongereues salon in a state of suppressed excitement, very pale but very beautiful.
"We give you five days, as I said, at the end of which time the proposition I have named must be presented to the Chamber of Peers." "I will present it." "But the Society will not permit you to interfere until you have given the required guarantee. And now, good-morning, sir." In vain did Fongereues petition the Italian to remain, but Fernando bowed coldly and departed.
The two guilty creatures gazed at each other; the Marquis was the first to turn his uneasy eyes away. From this moment the struggle began, and the Marquis led a most terrible life. Before long the alliance with Mademoiselle de Salves was projected. This marriage was to the Marquis de Fongereues the last plank between himself and destruction.
The fortune of the Vicomte had nearly gone the fortune of the Fongereues family remained, but the Vicomte was well aware that his father had contracted an early marriage, and that of this union a son was born, with whom, to be sure, the old Marquis seemed to have broken entirely, but of late de Talizac began to realize that the father's love had outlived this separation; and, moreover, indulged in no possible delusion in regard to himself; he did not love his father, and knew that his father did not love him.
Fernando did not reply to this direct question other than with a slight bow. "This society," he continued, "is disposed to come to your aid. It is they who have prevented His Majesty from revoking the favors shown to your son." Fongereues uttered an exclamation of surprise. "And they, too, will enable you to re-conquer the rank to which you belong."
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