"Your sister has fallen into bad hands,"replied Felix."It is a shame for any family to have a du Tillet in it,--a man without honor of any kind.If disaster happened to her she would get no pity from him.""What woman wants pity?"said the countess,with a convulsive motion.
"A man's sternness is to us our only pardon.""This is not the first time that I read your noble heart,"said the count."A woman who thinks as you do needs no watching.""Watching!"she said;"another shame that recoils on you."Felix smiled,but Marie blushed.When women are secretly to blame they often show ostensibly the utmost womanly pride.It is a dissimulation of mind for which we ought to be obliged to them.The deception is full of dignity,if not of grandeur.Marie wrote two lines to Nathan under the name of Monsieur Quillet,to tell him that all went well,and sent them by a street porter to the hotel du Mail.That night,at the Opera,Felix thought it very natural that she should wish to leave her box and go to that of her sister,and he waited till du Tillet had left his wife to give Marie his arm and take her there.Who can tell what emotions agitated her as she went through the corridors and entered her sister's box with a face that was outwardly serene and calm!
"Well?"she said,as soon as they were alone.
Eugenie's face was an answer;it was bright with a joy which some persons might have attributed to the satisfaction of vanity.
"He can be saved,dear;but for three months only;during which time we must plan some other means of doing it permanently.Madame de Nucingen wants four notes of hand,each for ten thousand francs,endorsed by any one,no matter who,so as not to compromise you.She explained to me how they were made,but I couldn't understand her.
Monsieur Nathan,however,can make them for us.I thought of Schmucke,our old master.I am sure he could be very useful in this emergency;he will endorse the notes.You must add to the four notes a letter in which you guarantee their payment to Madame de Nucingen,and she will give you the money to-morrow.Do the whole thing yourself;don't trust it to any one.I feel sure that Schmucke will make no objection.To divert all suspicion I told Madame de Nucingen you wanted to oblige our old music-master who was in distress,and I asked her to keep the matter secret.""You have the sense of angels!I only hope Madame de Nucingen won't tell of it until after she gives me the money,"said the countess.
"Schmucke lives in the rue de Nevers on the quai Conti;don't forget the address,and go yourself.""Thanks!"said the countess,pressing her sister's hand."Ah!I'd give ten years of life--""Out of your old age--"
"If I could put an end to these anxieties,"said the countess,smiling at the interruption.
The persons who were at that moment levelling their opera-glasses at the two sisters might well have supposed them engaged in some light-hearted talk;but any observer who had come to the Opera more for the pleasure of watching faces than for mere idle amusement might have guessed them in trouble,from the anxious look which followed the momentary smiles on their charming faces.Raoul,who did not fear the bailiffs at night,appeared,pale and ashy,with anxious eye and gloomy brow,on the step of the staircase where he regularly took his stand.He looked for the Countess in her box and,finding it empty,buried his face in his hands,leaning his elbows on the balustrade.
"Can she be here!"he thought.
"Look up,unhappy hero,"whispered Mme.du Tillet.
As for Marie,at all risks she fixed on him that steady magnetic gaze,in which the will flashes from the eye,as rays of light from the sun.
Such a look,mesmerizers say,penetrates to the person on whom it is directed,and certainly Raoul seemed as though struck by a magic wand.
Raising his head,his eyes met those of the sisters.With that charming feminine readiness which is never at fault,Mme.de Vandenesse seized a cross,sparkling on her neck,and directed his attention to it by a swift smile,full of meaning.The brilliance of the gem radiated even upon Raoul's forehead,and he replied with a look of joy;he had understood.
"Is it nothing then,Eugenie,"said the Countess,"thus to restore life to the dead?""You have a chance yet with the Royal Humane Society,"replied Eugenie,with a smile.""How wretched and depressed he looked when he came,and how happy he will go away!"At this moment du Tillet,coming up to Raoul with every mark of friendliness,pressed his hand,and said:
"Well,old fellow,how are you?"
"As well as a man is likely to be who has just got the best possible news of the election.I shall be successful,"replied Raoul,radiant.
"Delighted,"said du Tillet."We shall want money for the paper.""The money will be found,"said Raoul.
"The devil is with these woemn!"exclaimed du Tillet,still unconvinced by the words of Raoul,whom he had nicknamed Charnathan.
"What are you talking about?"said Raoul.
"My sister-in-law is there with my wife,and they are hatching something together.You seem in high favor with the Countess;she is bowing to you right across the house.""Look,"said Mme.du Tillet to her sister,"they told us wrong.See how my husband fawns on M.Nathan,and it is he who they declared was trying to get him put in prison!""And men call us slanderers!"cried the Countess."I will give him a warning."She rose,took the arm of Vandenesse,who was waiting in the passage,and returned jubilant to her box;by and by she left the Opera and ordered her carriage for the next morning before eight o'clock.