She saw that it was all over, and that he knew everything,
that she could not prove her innocence, and that she
must comply, but all her impudence had returned to
her, and her hatred for the man, which was exasperated
now, drove her to audacity, made her feel the need
of bravadoes, and of defying him, and so she said
in a clear voice: “Come, Limousin, as he
is going to turn me out of doors, I will go to your
lodgings with you.”
But Limousin did not move, and Parent, in a fresh
access of rage, cried out: “Go, will you!
go, you wretches!... or else!... or else!...”
and he seized a chair and whirled it over his head.
Then Henriette walked quickly across the room, took
her lover by the arm, dragged him from the wall to
which he appeared fixed, and dragged him towards the
door, saying: “Do come, my friend ... you
see that the man is mad.... Do come!”
As she went out, she turned round to her husband,
trying to think of something that she could do, something
that she could invent to wound him to the heart as
she left the house, and an idea struck her, one of
those venomous, deadly ideas in which all a woman’s
perfidy shows itself, and she said resolutely:
“I am going to take my child with me.”
Parent was stupefied and stammered: “Your
... your ... child? You dare to talk of your
child?... You venture ... you venture to ask for
your child ... after ... after ... Oh! oh! that
is too much!... Go, you horrid wretch!...
Go!...” She went up to him again, almost
smiling, almost avenged already, and defying him,
standing close to him, and face to face, she said:
“I want my child, and you have no right to keep
him, because he is not yours ... do you understand?...
he is not yours ... he is Limousin’s.”
And Parent cried out in bewilderment: “You
lie ... you lie you wretch!”
But she continued: “You fool! Everybody
knows it, except you. I tell you, this is his
father. You need only look at him, to see it....”
Parent staggered back from her, and then he suddenly
turned round, took a candle and rushed into the next
room; almost immediately, however, he returned, carrying
little George, wrapped up in his bed clothes, and the
child, who had been suddenly awakened, was crying with
fright. Parent threw him into his wife’s
arms, and then, without saying anything more, he pushed
her roughly out, towards the stairs, where Limousin
was waiting, from motives of prudence.
Then he shut the door again, double-locked it, and
bolted it, and he had scarcely got into the drawing-room,
when he fell onto the floor at full length.
