Still, as
she had been threatened with madness, and ending her days in the
Salpetriere in case of indiscretion, she was cautious.
"Madame, you are so well off now," said she. "Why take on again with
that Brazilian?--I do not trust him at all."
"You are very right, Reine, and I mean to be rid of him."
"Oh, madame, I am glad to hear it; he frightens me, does that big
Moor! I believe him to be capable of anything."
"Silly child! you have more reason to be afraid for him when he is
with me."
At this moment Lisbeth came in.
"My dear little pet Nanny, what an age since we met!" cried Valerie.
"I am so unhappy! Crevel bores me to death; and Wenceslas is gone--we
quarreled."
"I know," said Lisbeth, "and that is what brings me here. Victorin met
him at about five in the afternoon going into an eating-house at
five-and-twenty sous, and he brought him home, hungry, by working on
his feelings, to the Rue Louis-le-Grand.--Hortense, seeing Wenceslas
lean and ill and badly dressed, held out her hand. This is how you
throw me over--"
"Monsieur Henri, madame," the man-servant announced in a low voice to
Valerie.
"Leave me now, Lisbeth; I will explain it all to-morrow." But, as will
be seen, Valerie was ere long not in a state to explain anything to
anybody.
Towards the end of May, Baron Hulot's pension was released by
Victorin's regular payment to Baron Nucingen. As everybody knows,
pensions are paid half-yearly, and only on the presentation of a
certificate that the recipient is alive: and as Hulot's residence was
unknown, the arrears unpaid on Vauvinet's demand remained to his
credit in the Treasury.
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