Baron Trigaults Vengeance | Page 9

you sell Madeira, and excellent cigarettes
as well, and there are some who don't walk very straight on leaving
your establishment, but smell suspiciously of tobacco and absinthe. Oh,
yes, let us go to law, by all means! I shall have an advocate who will
know how to explain the parts your customers pay, and who will reveal
how, with your assistance, they obtain money from other sources than
their husband's cash-box."
When M. Van Klopen was addressed in this style, he was not at all
pleased. "And I!" he exclaimed, "I will tell people that Baron Trigault,
after losing all his money at play, repays his creditors with curses."
The noise of an overturned chair told Pascal that the baron had sprung
up in a furious passion "You may say what you like, you rascally fool!
but not in my house," he shouted. "Leave--leave, or I will ring----"
"Monsieur----"
"Leave, leave, I tell you, or I sha'n't have the patience to wait for a
servant!"
He must have joined action to word, and have seized Van Klopen by
the collar to thrust him into the hall, for Pascal heard a sound of
scuffling, a series of oaths worthy of a coal-heaver, two or three
frightened cries from the baroness, and several guttural exclamations in
German. Then a door closed with such violence that the whole house
shook, and a magnificent clock, fixed to the wall of the smoking-room,
fell on to the floor.
If Pascal had not heard this scene, he would have deemed it incredible.
How could one suppose that a creditor would leave this princely
mansion with his bill unpaid? But more and more clearly he understood
that there must be some greater cause of difference between husband
and wife than this bill of twenty-eight thousand francs. For what was
this amount to a confirmed gambler who, without as much as a frown,
gained or lost a fortune every evening of his life. Evidently there was
some skeleton in this household--one of those terrible secrets which
make a man and his wife enemies, and all the more bitter enemies as

they are bound together by a chain which it is impossible to break. And
undoubtedly, a good many of the insults which the baron had heaped
upon Van Klopen must have been intended for the baroness. These
thoughts darted through Pascal's mind with the rapidity of lightning,
and showed him the horrible position in which he was placed. The
baron, who had been so favorably disposed toward him, and from
whom he was expecting a great service, would undoubtedly hate him,
undoubtedly become his enemy, when he learned that he had been a
listener, although an involuntary one, to this conversation with Van
Klopen. How did it happen that he had been placed in this dangerous
position? What had become of the footman who had taken his card?
These were questions which he was unable to answer. And what was he
to do? If he could have retired noiselessly, if he could have reached the
courtyard and have made his escape without being observed he would
not have hesitated. But was this plan practicable? And would not his
card betray him? Would it not be discovered sooner or later that he had
been in the smoking-room while M. Van Klopen was in the
dining-room? In any case, delicacy of feeling as well as his own
interest forbade him to remain any longer a listener to the private
conversation of the baron and his wife.
He therefore noisily moved a chair, and coughed in that affected style
which means in every country: "Take care--I'm here!" But he did not
succeed in attracting attention. And yet the silence was profound; he
could distinctly hear the creaking of the baron's boots, as he paced to
and fro, and the sound of fingers nervously beating a tattoo on the table.
If he desired to avoid hearing the confidential conversation, which
would no doubt ensue between the baron and his wife, there was but
one course for him to pursue, and that was to reveal his presence at
once. He was about to do so, when some one opened a door which must
have led from the hall into the dining-room. He listened attentively, but
only heard a few confused words, to which the baron replied: "Very
well. That's sufficient. I will see him in a moment."
Pascal breathed freely once more. "They have just given him my card,"
he thought. "I can remain now; he will come here in a moment."
The baron must really have started to leave the room, for his wife
exclaimed: "One word more: have you quite decided?"
"Oh, fully!"

"You are resolved to leave me exposed to the persecutions of my
dressmaker?"
"Van Klopen is too charming and