Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/197

Rh "Do not let us talk about it, then," said Mme. de Bellière, who detected the ill-nature which was concealed by all these prefaces, yet felt the most anxious curiosity on the subject.

"Well, then, my dear marquise, it is said that for some time past you no longer continue to regret Monsieur de Bellière as you used to do."

"It is an ill-natured report. Marguerite. I do regret, and shall always regret my husband; but it is now two years since he died. I am only twenty-eight years old, and my grief at his loss ought not always to control every action and thought of my life. You, Marguerite, who are the model of a wife, would not believe me if I were to say so."

"Why not? Your heart is so soft and yielding," she said spitefully.

"Yours is so, too. Marguerite, and yet I did not perceive that you allowed yourself to be overcome by grief when your heart was wounded." These words were in direct allusion to Marguerite's rupture with the surintendant, and were also a veiled but direct reproach made against her friend's heart.

As if she only awaited this signal to discharge her shaft, Marguerite exclaimed, "Well, Eliza, it is said you are in love." And she looked fixedly at Mme. de Bellière, who blushed without being able to prevent it.

"Women never escape slander," replied the marquise, after a moment's pause.

"No one slanders you, Eliza."

"What! people say that I am in love, and yet they do not slander me!"

"In the first place, if it be true, there is no slander, but simply a scandal-loving report. In the next place — for you did not allow me to finish what I was saying — the public does not assert that you have abandoned yourself to this passion. It represents you, on the contrary, as a virtuous but loving woman, defending herself with claws and teeth, shutting yourself up in your own house as in a fortress, and in other respects as impenetrable as that of Danaë, not-withstanding Danaë's tower was made of brass."

"You are witty. Marguerite," said Mme. de Bellière tremblingly.

"You always flatter me, Eliza. To be brief, however, you are reported to be incorruptible and unapproachable. You can decide whether people calumniate you or not; but what is it you are musing about while I am speaking to you?"