Page:Braddon--The Trail of the Serpent.djvu/132

128 "Are you ill?" he asked, anxiously.

"No, no, it is nothing. Go, Gaston; you must not keep his Majesty waiting," she said.

I wonder whether as she spoke there rose the image in her mind of a King who reigns in undisputed power over the earth's wide face; whose throne no revolution ever shook; whose edict no creature ever yet set aside, and to whom all terrible things give place, owning in him the King of Terrors!

The young man took his wife in his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead. It was damp with a deadly cold perspiration.

"I am sure you are ill, Valerie," he said.

She shivered violently, but pushing him towards the door, said, "No, no, Gaston; go, I implore you; you will be late; at the theatre you will see me. Till then, adieu."

He was gone. She closed the door upon him rapidly, and with one long shudder fell to the ground, striking her head against the gilded moulding of the door. Monsieur Marolles emerged from the shadow, and lifting her from the floor, placed her in the chair by the hearth. Her head fell heavily back upon the velvet cushions, but her large black eyes were open. I have said before, this woman was not subject to fainting-fits.

She caught Raymond's hand in hers with a convulsive grasp.

"Madame," he said, "you have shown yourself indeed a daughter of the haughty line of the De Cevennes. You have avenged yourself most nobly."

The large black eyes did not look at him. They were fixed on vacancy. Vacancy? No! there could be no such thing as vacancy for this woman. Henceforth for her the whole earth must be filled with one hideous phantom.

There were two wine-glasses on the table which stood a little way behind the low chair in which Valerie was seated—very beautiful glasses, antique, exquisitely cut, and emblazoned with the arms of the De Cevennes. In one of those glasses, the one from which Gaston de Lancy had drunk, there remained a few drops of wine, and a little white sediment. Valerie did not see Raymond, as with a stealthy hand he removed this glass from the table, and put it in the pocket of his greatcoat.

He looked once more at her as she sat with rigid mouth and staring eyes, and then he said, as he moved towards the door,—

"I shall see you at the opera, madame! I shall be in the stalls. You will be, with more than your wonted brilliancy and beauty, the centre of observation in the box next to the King's. Remember, that until to-night is over, your play will