er
manoeuvres. To give herself a minute's reprieve she went up to her room,
sat down before her writing-table, and laid aside the mask of composure
which she wore in Chabert's presence, like an actress who, returning to
her dressing-room after a fatiguing fifth act, drops half dead, leaving
with the audience an image of herself which she no longer resembles. She
proceeded to finish a letter she had begun to Delbecq, whom she desired
to go in her name and demand of Derville the deeds relating to Colonel
Chabert, to copy them, and to come to her at once to Groslay. She had
hardly finished when she heard the Colonel's step in the passage; uneasy
at her absence, he had come to look for her.

"Alas!" she exclaimed, "I wish I were dead! My position is
intolerable..."

"Why, what is the matter?" asked the good man.

"Nothing, nothing!" she replied.

She rose, left the Colonel, and went down to speak privately to her
maid, whom she sent off to Paris, impressing on her that she was herself
to deliver to Delbecq the letter just written, and to bring it back to
the writer as soon as he had read it. Then the Countess went out to sit
on a bench sufficiently in sight for the Colonel to join her as soon as
he might choose. The Colonel, who was looking for her, hastened up and
sat down by her.

"Rosine," said he, "what is the matter with you?"

She did not answer.

It was one of those glorious, calm evenings in the month of June, whose
secret harmonies infuse such sweetness into the sunset. The air was
clear, the stillness perfect, so that far away in the park they could
hear the voices of some children, which added a kind of melody to the
sublimity of the scene.

"You do not answer me?" the Colonel said to his wife.

"My husband----" said the Countess, who broke off, started a little, and
with a blush stopped to ask him, "What am I to say when I speak of M.
Ferraud?"

"Call him your husband, my poor child," replied the Colonel, in a kind
voice. "Is he not the father of your children?"

"Well, then," she said, "if he should ask what I came here for, if he
finds out that I came here, alone, with a stranger, what am I to say
to him? Listen, monsieur," she went on, assuming a dignified attitude,
"decide my fate, I am resigned to anything--"

"My dear," said the Colonel, taking possession of his wife's hands, "I
have made up my mind to sacrifice myself entirely for your happiness--"

"That is impossible!" she exclaimed, wi