"'That is not necessary. Wait!'

"All sportsmen know that there is a way to replace matches. I employed
the usual means. I took a cartridge out of my gun, emptied it and its
shot, and put in, instead a piece of paper. Then, resting my gun on the
ground, so as to prevent a loud explosion, I made the powder flash up.

"We had fire, and put the letters to the flame.

"A few minutes later, and nothing was left of them but a few blackened
fragments, which I crumbled in my hands, and scattered to the winds.
Immovable, like a statue, the Countess Claudieuse had watched my
operations.

"'And that is all,' she said, 'that remains of five years of our life,
of our love, and of your vows,--ashes.'

"I replied by a commonplace remark. I was in a hurry to be gone.

"She felt this, and cried with great vehemence,--

"'Ah! I inspire you with horror.'

"'We have just committed a marvellous imprudence,' I said.

"'Ah! what does it matter?'

"Then, in a hoarse voice, she added,--

"'Happiness awaits you, and a new life full of intoxicating hopes: it
is quite natural that you should tremble. I, whose life is ended, and
who have nothing to look for,--I, in whom you have killed every hope,--I
am not afraid.'

"I saw her anger rising within her, and said very quietly,--

"'I hope you do not repent of your generosity, Genevieve.'

"'Perhaps I do,' she replied, in an accent which made me tremble. 'How
you must laugh at me! What a wretched thing a woman is who is abandoned,
who resigns, and sheds tears!'

"Then she went on fiercely,--

"'Confess that you have never loved me really!'

"'Ah, you know very well the contrary!'

"'Still you abandon me for another,--for that Dionysia!'

"'You are married: you cannot be mine.'

"'Then if I were free--if I had been a widow'--

"'You would be my wife you know very well.'

"She raised her arms to heaven, like a drowning person; and, in a voice
which I thought they could hear at the house, she cried,--

"'His wife! If I were a widow, I would be his wife! O God! Luckily,
that thought, that terrible thought, never occurred to me before.'"

All of a sudden, at these words, the eminent advocate of Sauveterre rose
from his chair, and, placing himself before Jacques de Boiscoran, he
asked, looking at him with one of those glances which seem to pierce our
innermost heart,--

"And then?"

Jacques had to summon all the energy that was left him to be able to
continue with a semblanc