Serge had disappeared.

CHAPTER XXI

“When rogues fall out”

The night seemed long to Madame Desvarennes.  Agitated and feverish, she listened through the silence, expecting every moment to hear some fearful news.  In fancy she saw Cayrol entering his wife’s room like a madman, unawares.  She seemed to hear a cry of rage, answered by a sigh of terror; then a double shot resounded, the room filled with smoke, and, struck down in their guilty love, Serge and Jeanne rolled in death, interlaced in each other’s arms, like Paolo and Francesca de Rimini, those sad lovers of whom Dante tells us.

Hour after hour passed; not a sound disturbed the mansion.  The Prince had not come in.  Madame Desvarennes, unable to lie in bed, arose, and now and again, to pass the time, stole on tiptoe to her daughter’s room.  Micheline, thoroughly exhausted with fatigue and emotion, had fallen asleep on her pillow, which was wet with tears.

Bending over her, by the light of the lamp, the mistress gazed at Micheline’s pale face, and a sigh rose to her lips.

“She is still young,” she thought; “she may begin life afresh.  The remembrance of these sad days will be wiped out, and I shall see her revive and smile again.  That wretch was nearly the death of her.”

And the image of Serge and Jeanne stretched beside each other in the room full of smoke came before her eyes again.  She shook her head to chase the importunate vision away, and noiselessly regained her own apartment.

The day dawned pale and bleak.  Madame Desvarennes opened her window and cooled her burning brow in the fresh morning air.  The birds were awake, and were singing on the trees in the garden.

Little by little, the distant sound of wheels rolling by was heard.  The city was awakening from its sleep.

Madame Desvarennes rang and asked for Marechal.  The secretary appeared instantly.  He, too, had shared the anxieties and fears of the mistress, and had risen early.  Madame Desvarennes greeted him with a grateful smile.  She felt that she was really loved by this good fellow, who understood her so thoroughly.  She begged him to go to Cayrol’s, and gain some information, without giving him further details, and she waited, walking up and down the room to calm the fever of her mind.

On leaving the house in the Rue Taitbout, Serge felt bewildered, not daring to go home, and unable to decide on any plan; yet feeling that it was necessary to fix on something without delay, he reached the club.  The walk did him good, and restored his physical equilibrium.  He was thankful to be alive after such a narrow escape.  He went upstairs with a comparatively light step, and tossed his overcoat to a very sleepy footman who had risen to receive him.  He went into the card-room.  Baccarat was just finishing.  It was three o’clock in the morning.  The appearance of the Prince lent the game a little fresh animation.  Serge plunged into it as if it were a battle.  Luck was on his side.  In a short time he cleared the bank:  a thousand louis.  One by one the players retired.  Panine, left alone, threw himself on a couch and slept for a few hours, but it was not a refreshing sleep.  On the contrary, it made him feel more tired.