第83章

Unfortunatelyforthemarechale，comteJean

presentedhimselfbeforeshedid。

Hecametoinformme，thatmy

husband(ofwhosequittingToulouseIhadforgottentotellyou)

hadagainarrivedinParis。

Ididnotdisguisethevexationwhich

thispieceofintelligenceexcitedinme。

“AndwhereforehascomteGuillaumereturnedtoParis？“

inquiredI，angrily。

“Becauseheisafraid。“

“Afraidofwhat？“

repliedI。

“Ofbeingmurdered，“answeredcomteJean:“itisamosthorrible

andauthenticstory。

Imaginetoyourselfthedangersofhis

situation:somebrigands，whohaveadesignonhislife，have

writtenhimananonymousbillet，inwhichtheyprotesttheywill

certainlymurderhim，unlesshedeposits50，000livresinacertain

place。

Youmaysupposehisterror；moneyhehadnone，neither

washiscreditsufficientlygoodtoenablehimtoborrowany。

Asalastandonlychance，hethrewhimselfintoacarriage，and

hastened，tremblingly，toimploreyourassistance。“

“AndIamquitecertainyouwillnotwithholdyoursfromhim，“

answeredI

“Youareperfectlyright，“criedhe，“butunfortunatelyjustnow

IhavenotasinglecrownIcancallmyown；sothatitrests

withyoualone，mydearestsister，tosavethelifeofthis

haplesscomteduBarry。“

“Iamextremelydistressed，mydearbrother-in-law，“repliedI，

“thatIamjustaspoor，andasunabletoaffordthenecessary

aidasyourself；mypurseisquiteempty。“

“Faith，mydearsister-in-law，Iamnotsurprisedatthatifyou

convertachinavaseintoareceptacleforyourbanknotes。“

Sayingthis，hedrewabundleofnotesfromthehiding-placein

whichIhaddepositedthem。

“Doyouknow，“continuedcomte

Jean，“Ireallythinkweshallfindmoneyenoughhere。“

Hebegan

tocountthem:andwhenhehadfinishedhesaid，“Mydearsister，

neitheryourhusbandnormyselfwishtoimportuneyou，orput

youtoanyinconvenience，thereforeyoushallmerelyobligehim

withtheloanofthese50，000livrestoextricatehimfromhis

presentperil；theyshallbefaithfullyandquicklyrestoredto

you，andanoteofhandgivenyouforthatpurposeifyoudesire

it。“

Sosaying，hedividedthemoneyintotwoparts，replaced

oneinthevase，andpocketedtheother。

Iwasveryindignantatthecoolimpudencewithwhichthiswas

done，andmypatiencehadwellnighforsakenme:however，I

restrainedmyself；andIwashappyenoughthatIcouldsofar

conquermyself。

MyreproacheswouldnothaveinducedcomteJean

togivemebackmymoney，andwouldonlyhaverousedhisviolence；

which，whenonceexcited，foundventinlanguagesovehementand

energetic，thatIdidnotdesiretohearanymoreofitthanI

couldhelp。

Atthesemomentsheselectednotthepolitestexpressions，

butthosewhichwerethestrongest:andbesides，suchwasthe

ungovernablenatureofcomteJean’stemper，thatonceroused，he

wouldhavetreatedthekinghimselfwithaslittleconsideration

ashedidme。

Still，heneverdeliberatelyinsultedme，nordid

hecomposethoseinsultingversesrespectingme，whichwereprinted

ashis，in“。“

Thiswould

havebeenanindignityIwouldqui