put on a soft and languid manner: she shed tears and tried to
say coaxing things, which were very coldly received; for there was a
hard and evil look in her fine dark eyes that went far to neutralize the
effect of her _calineries_. Once, indeed, when Alan had gone into an
adjoining room to fetch a vinaigrette, her true feeling found its vent
in a few expressive words.

"Sacre," she muttered, drawing back the red lips from her white teeth,
with the snarl of a vicious dog, "how I hate you, cochon! How I wish
that you were dead!"

And then she smoothed her brows, and smiled at him as he re-entered the
room.

In the course of the evening she made the suggestion that they should
leave Aix-les-Bains next day.

"Certainly," Alan answered, more warmly than usual. "And where shall we
go?"

"Oh, to Paris, I suppose. To Dijon first, of course--if I am strong
enough to travel so far."

Alan was eager to make his preparations for departure, and pleased to
find that his wife was as ready as he to hasten them. Only in one point
did her behavior strike him as peculiar. She announced that she meant to
leave Aix-les-Bains at an early hour, lunch and rest at Culoz, and go on
to Dijon by the afternoon train.

"But why Culoz? Nobody stops at Culoz," he remonstrated.

"Why not Culoz? There is an inn. I suppose we can get some lunch," she
answered. "Besides, I have always meant to go there, to look at the
chateau on the hill! You English like 'views,' do you not? The 'view'
must be magnificent."

She had never formerly shown any interest in scenery, and Alan stared at
her for a moment with a puzzled look. If Henry de Hauteville had been
likely to join her at Culoz he could have understood this whim of hers;
but de Hauteville was safely lodged by this time in the nearest Swiss
canton, and not at all likely to intercept their journey. He did her
bidding, however, without comprehension of her reasons, as he had done
many a time before. Again, he was discomfited by her behavior in the
train, shortly after their departure from the station at Aix-les-Bains.
She suddenly flung herself back in the corner of the _coupe_ and burst
into a prolonged fit of noisy laughter, which seemed as if it would
choke her by its violence. Alan questioned and remonstrated in vain.
Fortunately, they had the _coupe_ to themselves; but the laughter
continued so long that he began to doubt his wife's sanity, as well as
her self-control. At last she sat up and