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Updated: June 16, 2025
"I repeated in a few words the creepy and sinister story of Madame de Merret. At each sentence my hostess put her head forward, looking at me with an innkeeper's keen scrutiny, a happy compromise between the instinct of a police constable, the astuteness of a spy, and the cunning of a dealer. "'My good Madame Lepas, said I as I ended, 'you seem to know more about it. Heh?
We have done nothing there but verify the number of doors and windows to assess the taxes I have to pay annually out of the funds left for that purpose by the late Madame de Merret. Ah! my dear sir, her will made a great commotion in the town. "The good man paused to blow his nose.
Subsequently, at home, at the chateau, she refused to see the friends, whether gentlemen or ladies, who went to call on her. She was already very much altered when she left la Grande Breteche to go to Merret.
That dear lady I say dear lady, for it was she who gave me this diamond, but indeed I saw her but once that kind lady was very ill; she had, no doubt, given up all hope, for she died without choosing to send for a doctor; indeed, many of our ladies fancied she was not quite right in her head. Well, sir, my curiosity was strangely excited by hearing that Madame de Merret had need of my services.
"'No, Josephine, he said, 'I will not open it. In either event we should be parted for ever. Listen; I know all the purity of your soul, I know you lead a saintly life, and would not commit a deadly sin to save your life. At these words Madame de Merret looked at her husband with a haggard stare. 'See, here is your crucifix, he went on.
Nor was I the only person who took an interest in the affair. That very night, though it was already late, all the town knew that I was going to Merret.
I had relations in Vendome; among others, a wealthy aunt, who allowed me to marry her daughter. Monsieur, he went on after a little pause, 'three months after being licensed by the Keeper of the Seals, one evening, as I was going to bed it was before my marriage I was sent for by Madame la Comtesse de Merret, to her Chateau of Merret.
If not, why have you come up to me? "'On my word, as an honest woman "'Do not swear; your eyes are big with a secret. You knew Monsieur de Merret; what sort of man was he? "'Monsieur de Merret well, you see he was a man you never could see the top of, he was so tall! A very good gentleman, from Picardy, and who had, as we say, his head close to his cap.
"'On the day when he left, Madame la Comtesse had quitted la Grand Breteche, having dismantled it. Have you been to Merret, monsieur? No, said he, answering himself, 'Ah, it is a very fine place.
When I saw Monsieur Regnault go up to see you, it struck me that he would speak to you about Madame de Merret as having to do with la Grande Breteche. That put it into my head to ask your advice, sir, seeming to me that you are a man of good judgment and incapable of playing a poor woman like me false for I never did any one a wrong, and yet I am tormented by my conscience.
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