"Am I well informed?" queried the duke, triumphantly.
"Not by any means," retorted Nanon; "and if your political police is no better organized than your amorous police, I pity you."
"You pity me?"
"Yes; for this Monsieur de Canolles, whom you gratuitously honor by believing him to be your rival, is not here, and you are at liberty to wait and see if he comes."
"He has come."
"He?" cried Nanon. "That is not true!"
There was an unmistakable accent of truth in this exclamation of the accused.
"I mean that he came within four hundred yards, and stopped at the Golden Calf, luckily for him."
Nanon saw that the duke was not nearly so well informed as she had supposed at first; she shrugged her shoulders as another idea, prompted doubtless by the letter, which she was folding and unfolding in her hands, began to take root in her mind.
"Is it possible," said she, "that a man of intellect, one of the cleverest politicians in the kingdom, allows himself to be gulled by anonymous letters?"
"That's all very well; but how do you explain this letter, anonymous or not?"
"Why, the explanation's very simple; it's simply a continuation of the generous proceedings of our friends at Agen. Monsieur de Canolles applied to you for leave of absence on account of urgent private business, and you granted it; they found out that he had come in this direction, and this absurd accusation has no other foundation than his journey."
Nanon noticed that the duke's features did not relax, but that his scowl became more pronounced.
"The explanation would answer, if the letter you attribute to your friends had not a certain postscript, which, in your confusion, you omitted to read."
The young woman shivered with terror; she realized that, if chance did not come to her assistance, she could not long continue the struggle.
"A postscript?" she repeated.
"Yes; read it," said the duke; "you have the letter in your hands."
Nanon tried to smile; but she felt that her distorted features would not lend their aid to any such demonstration; she contented herself, therefore, with reading aloud, in the firmest tones she could command, —
"'I have in my possession Mademoiselle de Lartigues' letter to Monsieur de Canolles, making the appointment I mention for this evening. I will give up the letter in exchange for a paper signed in blank by Monsieur d'Épernon, to be handed to me by a man, alone in a boat on the Dordogne, opposite the village of Saint-Michel-la-Rivière, at six o'clock in the evening.'"
"And you were so imprudent – " continued Nanon.
"Your handwriting is so precious to me, dear lady, that I thought I could not pay too high a price for a letter of yours."
"And you revealed such a secret to the possible indiscretion of one of your servants! Oh! Monsieur le Duc!"
"Such confidences, madame, a man should receive in person, and I so received this one. I, myself, was waiting in the boat on the Dordogne."
"Then you have my letter?"
"Here it is."
Nanon made a superhuman effort to remember the exact contents of the letter, but it was impossible; her brain was beginning to be confused. She had no alternative, therefore, but to take her own letter and read it. It contained barely three lines; Nanon ran her eye over them in eager haste, and saw, with unspeakable delight, that the letter did not compromise her beyond all hope.
"Read it aloud," said the duke; "like you, I have forgotten what the letter contains."
Nanon found the smile she had sought in vain a few seconds before, and complied with the duke's suggestion.
"'I shall take supper at eight o'clock. Are you free? I am. If so, be punctual, my dear Canolles, and have no fear for our secret.'"
"I should say that that is explicit enough," cried the duke, pale with rage.
"That is my salvation," thought Nanon.
"So you have a secret with Monsieur de Canolles, have you?" continued the duke.
VI
Nanon realized that to hesitate for a second would be her destruction. Moreover, she had had time enough to develop in her brain the scheme suggested by the anonymous letter.
"Yes," said she, gazing fixedly at the duke, "I have a secret with that gentleman."
"You confess it?" cried Monsieur d'Épernon.
"I must; for one can conceal nothing from you."
"Oh!" shouted the duke.
"Yes, I was expecting Monsieur de Canolles," continued Nanon, calmly.
"You were expecting him?"
"I was expecting him."
"You dare admit it?"
"Freely. Tell me, now, do you know who Monsieur de Canolles is?"
"He is a jackanapes, whom I will punish cruelly for his impudence."
"He is a noble and gallant gentleman, to whom you will continue your benefactions."
"Oh! I swear by the Almighty that I will not!"
"No oaths, Monsieur le Duc; at all events, not until I have said what I have to say," rejoined Nanon, smiling sweetly.
"Say on, then, but waste no time."
"Haven't you, who are so skilful in probing the human heart to its lowest depths," said Nanon, "haven't you remarked my partiality for Monsieur de Canolles, my repeated solicitations in his interest? – the captain's commission I procured for him, the grant of money for a trip to Bretagne with Monsieur de Meilleraie, his recent leave of absence, – in a word, my constant efforts to gratify him?"
"Madame, madame!" said the duke, "you exceed all bounds!"
"For God's sake, Monsieur le Duc, wait until you hear the end!"
"Why should I wait any longer? What more is there for you to tell me?"
"That I have a most affectionate interest in Monsieur de Canolles."
"Pardieu! I know it well."
"That I am devoted to him, body and soul."
"Madame, you abuse – "
"That I will do my utmost to oblige him while I live, and all because – "
"Because he's your lover; that's not difficult to guess."
"Because," continued Nanon, seizing the wrathful duke's arm with a dramatic gesture, "because he is my brother!"
Monsieur d'Épernon's arm fell to his side.
"Your brother?" he said.
Nanon nodded affirmatively with a triumphant smile.
"This calls for an explanation," the duke cried, after a moment's reflection.
"Which I will give you," said Nanon. "When did my father die?"
"Why, about eight months since," replied the duke, after a short mental calculation.
"When did you sign the captain's commission for Canolles?"
"Eh? at about the same time."
"A fortnight later," said Nanon.
"A fortnight later; it's very possible."
"It is a sad thing for me to disclose another woman's shame, to divulge a secret which belongs to us alone, you understand. But your extraordinary jealousy drives me to it, your cruelty leaves me no alternative. I am like you, Monsieur le Duc, I lack generosity."
"Go on, go on!" cried the duke, beginning to yield to the fair Gasconne's imaginative flights.
"Very good; my father was an attorney of some note. Twenty-eight years ago he was still young, and he was always fine-looking. Before