Very well. It is unnecessary to speak of it again.
You see I came to-day on receipt of your letter."

Walter, who had preceded them, with his two daughters and Madeleine,
awaited Du Roy near the picture of "Christ Walking on the Water."

"Only think," said he, "I found my wife yesterday kneeling before that
painting as if in a chapel. She was praying!"

Mme. Walter replied in a firm voice, in a voice in which vibrated a
secret exaltation: "That Christ will save my soul. He gives me fresh
courage and strength every time that I look at Him." And pausing before
the picture, she murmured: "How beautiful He is! How frightened those
men are, and how they love Him! Look at His head, His eyes, how simple
and supernatural He is at the same time!"

Suzanne cried: "Why, He looks like you, Bel-Ami! I am sure He looks
like you. The resemblance is striking."

She made him stand beside the painting and everyone recognized the
likeness. Du Roy was embarrassed. Walter thought it very singular;
Madeleine, with a smile, remarked that Jesus looked more manly. Mme.
Walter stood by motionless, staring fixedly at her lover's face, her
cheeks as white as her hair.

CHAPTER XVI.

DIVORCE

During the remainder of the winter, the Du Roys often visited the
Walters. Georges, too, frequently dined there alone, Madeleine pleading
fatigue and preferring to remain at home. He had chosen Friday as his
day, and Mme. Walter never invited anyone else on that evening; it
belonged to Bel-Ami. Often in a dark corner or behind a tree in the
conservatory, Mme. Walter embraced the young man and whispered in his
ear: "I love you, I love you! I love you desperately!"

But he always repulsed her coldly, saying: "If you persist in that, I
will not come again."

Toward the end of March people talked of the marriage of the two
sisters: Rose was to marry, Dame Rumor said, Count de Latour-Ivelin and
Suzanne, the Marquis de Cazolles. The subject of Suzanne's possible
marriage had not been broached again between her and Georges until one
morning, the latter having been brought home by M. Walter to lunch, he
whispered to Suzanne: "Come, let us give the fish some bread."

They proceeded to the conservatory in which was the marble basin
containing the fish. As Georges and Suzanne leaned over its edge, they
saw their reflections in the water and smiled at them. Suddenly, he
said in a low voice: "It is not right of you to keep secrets from me,
Suzanne."