Page:Eekhoud - The New Carthage.djvu/367

Rh is none of your business!" he said, taking Laurent by the arm and pushing him out; then turning to Béjard and the two husbands: "I think the facts have been sufficiently established, Monsieur Béjard, and that it is superfluous to prolong this delicate situation. We can therefore retire."

After coughing, he added in a constrained tone, as if modesty prevented him from speaking directly to the lightly clad culprits: "These gentlemen and ladies will have the kindness to join us at the commissariat for the little formalities that we still have to go through!"

Laurent, contrary to his usual habit, thought it useless to resist. He would find the superintendent of police again. Béjard would lose nothing by waiting!

For the moment another duty was incumbent upon Laurent.

Guilty or not, Gina had to be warned of what had just taken place and of the manner in which Béjard had spoken of her … Laurent rushed to the street like a madman, hailed a cabby, jumped into the fiacre:

"To Béjard's!"

He tore at the bell, jostled the footman, entered an illuminated room like a housebreaker.

Gina screamed loudly, first at recognizing her Pierrot of that afternoon, and then, beneath his disordered costume and the remainder of his makeup, her cousin Laurent Paridael.

He snatched her brutally by the hand: "A yes or no, Gina; were you at Casti's restaurant this evening?"

"I! From what asylum have you escaped?"

He told her, in one breath, the scandal which he had just attended.

"The wretch!" she cried, as she heard the rôle played