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A H U SB AN D'S VENGEANCE.…

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A H U SB AN D'S VENGEANCE. I Night began to fall, and one by one the ights were lit in the Rue Pasquier. The Jejectert cab-horse that had been standing there between the shafts for two hours shifted his feet. Name of a do? swore the driver to himself, "I wish that fare would buiry up." Suddenly at the door of a house appeared woman swathed in fluffv furs. 44 Are you there, driver?" she called, and harrying across the sidewalk she sprang into The carriage. She felt herself seized sharply by the -arins, and drew back with a cry but he irew her in and closed the door then he -owered the window in front and called out *> the driver, Drive on, cabby. You snow where to go." The carriage started at a round pace. The roung woman reached swiftly for the door. andle. but he caught her hand. U Do not try to jump out," ii(- said, calmly, "'At the rate we are going you would pro- Jably break your neck." I don't care. '1 "But I do." 4* How do you come to be in this carriage ? Are you playing the spy upon me at last t" HI1 Not the least in the world. I was "Maply waiting until you should come out of ibe rooms of M. de Joyeuse, your lover." You are crazy You know very well 3wt M. de Joyeuse is not my lover. Besides, e does not live here, I believe his rooms I we in the Rue Marbeuf." U Yes, but he also has rooms in the Rue ?asquier—for you." She was beginning to recover a little, to Tegain her composure. Suddenly she began to laugh insolently in his face. How does it happen that I find you aere in my cab ?-for it is my cab you seem to make no doubt of that. Why are you aofc at your club ?'' 44 It is very simple. As I have been watching you for some days past and have liad you followed—" 44 Ah, you have me followed ? My com- pliments." Thanks. I simply gave your driver a louis to let me wait for you in the cab." •4 And where are we going at this rate 1" jhe demanded. We are going home." "Indeed? Now, seriously, do you really ttean this, about Joyeuse ?" The driver pulled up his horse on his haunches in the Rue de Monceau. M. Leroy-Chateau assisted his wife to alight, folding her arm firmly the while, and they ascended thb stairs to the brilliantly lighted apartment above. The man below drew up the blinds of his cab and set off down the Street at a walk, shrugging his shoulders. M. Leroy-Chateau led his wife to her chamber. She entered, and for a moment stood bewildered in the centre of the room, scarcely conscious of the grating sound made by the key as he turned it in the lock. Worn out, unstrung, she sank into a chair to walt her fate. The husband quickly crossed the hall. "Have you been to Dr. Lanoy," he asked, "and requested him to be here at 6 o'clock ?" Yes, sir the doctor is already here. Be is waiting for you in your study," J URt then the physician appeared. 44 What is the matter ?" he asked. "You ire not ill V 41 Doctor," M. Leroy-Chateau replied, in sad ana very grave tone, a great misfor- tune has befallen me—a misfortune that I Jiave feared for some time past." 4PHy dear sir, you surprise me. 44 For some months past, Mme. Leroy- Ohateau's health has visibly failed-she has suffered from great nervous excitement. insomnia, a constant loss of appetite. I have often wished to have you called, but the has strenuously objected, and I did not like to insist, her irritability of hte having been excessive. But in the last few days the hidden malady has declared itself to be ba extremely grave mental disorder," 44 You astound me U My wife—doubtless you are unaware of Jt. my dear doctor one does not like to speak of such things, even to one's physi- oian-there has been insanity in my wife's family. One of her uncles, without exactly needing to be restrained, was noted for his easily excitable and ungovernable temper her grandmother, Madame Lieuvain, was confined for two years in a retreat for the Insane. To be sure, it was said to be the Consequence of a fright, but the fact re- mains, nevertheless. Of late my wife has had strange and unusual whims. She has (one out frequently, not once using her carriage -she, who cannot bear to walk, or to use a hired carriage—she has remained out for hours, returning in an indescribable state of agitation. Made anxious by this, I have had recourso to a procedure which was very repugnant to me but in the case of » person like Madame Leroy-Chateau, it eould not result to her discredit-I have followed her." 44 Oh, surely Mme. Leroy-Chateau is above suspicion." Precisely so. poor woman. Well, doctor, I have seen her give way to the strangest fancies—she has gone into churches and behaved in such a way as to attract the notice of the attendant she has gone to museums and stood for hours contemplating a picture, a statue, or the most insignificant object sometimes she goes to the quays- Jou can imagine my terror the day t saw Her leaning over the parapet of a bridge, staring with haggard eyes into the water. Another day she went to the morgue. But when she is home again it is impossible to make her tell where she has passed the day. She invents the most palpably false excuses. So deranged are her faculties that she. the most honest, the most vir- iunus of women, has tried to make me believe that she has a lover." 44 What you tell me is astounding." You shall see her presently, and can Interrogate her yourself. Ask her where the passed the afternoon on the twelfth, the fourteenth, the fifteenth, the seventeenth of ibis month. You will see that she becomes aneasy and is evasive in her replies or if, unfortunately, she should suspect your object, she will fling out the name of a lover, the first name that enters her head. jfjnally to-day, as I was following her after having sent for you, I surprised her wander- ing about on foot in the quarter of the Madeleine-she accosted the passers-by and begged money of them! Imagine how a man must feel when he sees his wife begging in the street 1" and Leroy-Chateau covered bis face with his hands, while his shoulders shook with suppressed sobs. 44 What do you wish me to do V asked the Joctor. "I do not wish mychildren tosee theirmo- Aer demented-such a spectacle might have terrible consequences in the years to come. ( wish to take them away to travel, and to Save Hortense taken to some retreat where [ .be will have the care that her condition lemands. While we are away I hope and J believe she will get better; meanwhile, the I ivorld will believe that she is with us, and I irill never suspect the frightful truth." 44 My dear M. Leroy-Chateau, you have Rocked me profoundly. But may I see the ady ?—for there are certain formalities that mist be observed." Certainly. I shall take you to hem at mce. 44 Her malady is not of a violent nature, Nit T' ventured the doctor, uneasily. "She has no weapons No, no you may be quite easy on that score. M. Leroy-Chateau cautiously entered his wife's apartment after the doctor had gone. Berfound her standing motionless in the middle of the room, staring at the floor. She kad not taken off her bonnet or removed her aloak. 44 Lanoy has just been here," she said, lmly. turning towards him, and he has been asking me the oddest questions. He acted so strangely, too, as if he were frightened, that he frightened me. What does it mean V 441 cannot imagine. Did he say you teemed ill ? 44 Come," she said resolutely, as sh. took ,ehair 44 what does all this mean I I 44 Here," he said, drawing some papers from his pocket and arranging them carefully, u are he reports of the detective bureau. Day by day, almost hour by hour, they prove "ar isin. Moreover, I have a package of four letters, which leave no doubt as to your relations with M. de J oyeuse. II You have my letters "They cost me five hundred francs-you )Ie, I do not count the cost where you are ■Concerned. In fact, I hold in my hands "ore than is recessary to secure a divorce and precipitate a terrible scandal. Up to now you have borne an absolutely spotless reputation you are cited as a model of virtue. You have even presumed on it to show implacable scorn for those of your friends or acquaintances whose private lives might not bear questioning. Mme. Lagrange des Assarts, Mme. Leremois, the Baronne d'Herblay have been utterly ostracized since you closed your door to them and so put them in the pillory. Oh, you were a very dragon of virtue Well, I can make your fall far greater than that of any of these women. Well, what is the upshot of these threats ?" "This: I do not wish to dishonour you, nor to be dishonoured myself. But as I do not wish your relations with M. de Joyeuse to continue, as I do not wish them to have consequences that may interfere with the projects I have formed for my children's future, I have made up my mind what course to pursue. Evidently there must be something profoundly wrong with you that you have allowed yourself to be so utterly reckless. After ten years of exemplary life you compromise yourself with a young man, you write him insensate letters, you expose yourself every moment to the chance of being surprised—this indicates a serious derangement of your mental faoulties. There are, unhappily, other examples of the same malady in your family. A few months of calm and solitude will restore you to reason. You intend to have me shut up in a mad-house ?" she cried, springing to her feet. That is putting it very crudely. No, I intend to have you cared for." This is infamous I mad ? You know well I am not. Who will ever believe me mad ?" Dr. Lanoy has just left you. He has been your physician ever since you were born, he understands your temperament perfectly. He has had no hesitation in sign- ing a certificate that declares you to be suffering from mania, happily not acute at present. He has been kind enough, too, to take it upon himself to arrange for your i incarceration. It is he, it is you who are mad Oh, I shall not allow myself to be locked up You do not know me, sir you shall not take me from my home as if I were a child "How could you resist if three or four men seized you ? You would cry out, you would make a scene—which would be only further proof of your insanity. You may say that you have a lover, that this is a plot for revenge on my part-but you would not be believed. And"—in a sudden fury, he seized her by the shoulder-" if you resist, if you oppose what I wish, understand-well, you know I can hit the ace of clubs nine times out of ten at fifteen paces, and I swear to you I will kill your paramour." "But-but," she sobbed. why not a divorce instead of this horrible thing ? I will take the blame on myself, I will make no defence, I will confess everything." But your fortune, niadame-I have need of it. Mme. Leroy-Chateau caught up a bodkin from her toilet-table and sprang at her husband. Help, help he shouted, throwing open hus" Help, g ?adaine is trying to kill me the door. 44 Madame is trying to kill me God help us, she is raving mad. The doctor, quick !-send for Dr. Lanoy II Mme. Leroy-Chateau stood as if turned to marble in the centre of the room, her bonnet untied, her hair flying, a bodkin in her hand, before the frightened servants. Two years later Mme. Leroy-Chateau expired during an unusually severe paroxysm of insanity in the establishment of the fam- ous Dr. Lerouge.-From the French.

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