had
married M. Ferraud, I could obtain no information.

"At last I went to the house of an old lawyer who had been in charge of
my affairs. This worthy man was dead, after selling his connection to
a younger man. This gentleman informed me, to my great surprise, of the
administration of my estate, the settlement of the moneys, of my wife's
marriage, and the birth of her two children. When I told him that I was
Colonel Chabert, he laughed so heartily that I left him without saying
another word. My detention at Stuttgart had suggested possibilities of
Charenton, and I determined to act with caution. Then, monsieur,
knowing where my wife lived, I went to her house, my heart high with
hope.--Well," said the Colonel, with a gesture of concentrated fury,
"when I called under an assumed name I was not admitted, and on the day
when I used my own I was turned out of doors.

"To see the Countess come home from a ball or the play in the early
morning, I have sat whole nights through, crouching close to the wall of
her gateway. My eyes pierced the depths of the carriage, which flashed
past me with the swiftness of lightning, and I caught a glimpse of the
woman who is my wife and no longer mine. Oh, from that day I have
lived for vengeance!" cried the old man in a hollow voice, and suddenly
standing up in front of Derville. "She knows that I am alive; since my
return she has had two letters written with my own hand. She loves me
no more!--I--I know not whether I love or hate her. I long for her and
curse her by turns. To me she owes all her fortune, all her happiness;
well, she has not sent me the very smallest pittance. Sometimes I do not
know what will become of me!"

With these words the veteran dropped on to his chair again and remained
motionless. Derville sat in silence, studying his client.

"It is a serious business," he said at length, mechanically. "Even
granting the genuineness of the documents to be procured from Heilsberg,
it is not proved to me that we can at once win our case. It must go
before three tribunals in succession. I must think such a matter over
with a clear head; it is quite exceptional."

"Oh," said the Colonel, coldly, with a haughty jerk of his head, "if I
fail, I can die--but not alone."

The feeble old man had vanished. The eyes were those of a man of energy,
lighted up with the spark of desire and revenge.

"We must perhaps compromise," said the lawyer.

"Compromise!" echoed Colonel Chabert