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Updated: May 7, 2025
No, M. Pancaldi only has to find himself dealing with a man to recover his qualities of courtesy and kindness. A perfect sheep! Which does not mean that things will go quite of themselves. Far from it! There's no more obstinate animal than a sheep...."
The struggle between the adversaries had hardly begun, before the husband and wife adopted the attitude of defeated persons whose only hope lay in the victor's clemency. Staring motionless before her, Madame Pancaldi began to cry. Renine bent over her and said: "Do you mind if we go over the case from the beginning?
They thus struggled against each other; and Hortense, who was becoming more and more frightened, not so much of the attack as of her assailant's distorted face, was beginning to scream, when Pancaldi suddenly stood motionless, with his arms before him, his fingers outstretched and his eyes staring above Hortense's head: "Who's there? How did you get in?" he asked, in a stifled voice.
"Prince Renine ... and a friend of this lady's," said Renine, bending over Hortense and kissing her hand. Pancaldi seemed to be choking, and mumbled: "Oh, I understand!... You instigated the plot ... it was you who sent the lady...." "It was, M. Pancaldi, it was!" "And what are your intentions?" "My intentions are irreproachable. No violence. Simply a little interview.
Hortense stared at him in amazement. How was it that he was accepting his defeat with such a careless air and even talking in a tone of triumph, whereas really he had been soundly beaten by Pancaldi and even made to look just a trifle ridiculous?
It will bring you luck too. Take your pick! A present from Pancaldi, to make up to you for your defeat! Does that suit you?" He put a stool against the wall, under the shelf, took down a statuette and plumped it into Renine's arms. And, laughing heartily, growing more and more excited as his enemy seemed to yield ground and to fall back before his spirited attack, he explained: "Well done!
Unfortunately, you are a wonderful actor; your sham suicide put her out; and you understood that this was not a decree of Providence, but simply an offensive on the part of your former victim. I had no choice, therefore, but to intervene. Here I am.... And now let's finish the business. Pancaldi, that clasp!"
I imagine that Pancaldi, when pulling the statuette about to make it serve his purpose, must have disturbed its balance, but that this balance was restored by something which holds the little god back and which makes up for his really too dangerous posture." "Something, you say?" "Yes, a counterweight." Hortense gave a start. She too was beginning to see a little light.
Madame Pancaldi was the first to yield and did so with a sudden outburst of rage against her husband: "Well, confess, can't you?... Speak up!... Where have you hidden it?... Look here, you aren't going to be obstinate, what? If you are, it means ruin ... and poverty.... And then there's our boy!... Speak out, do!" Hortense whispered: "Renine, this is madness; the clasp has no value...."
The man Pancaldi was fully aware of this; and, without troubling to invent a transition, he ceased his jeremiads, leapt to his feet, cut a sort of agile caper before Hortense' eyes and cried, in a jeering tone: "Now we are going to have a little chat; but it would be a nuisance to be at the mercy of the first passing customer, wouldn't it?"
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