We turned by common impulse to
Antoinette, and she was changed. Her breath came quickly, her eyes
flashed, her anger made her magnificent.
"It is not true," she cried, "you know it is not true."
He lifted his shoulders and smiled.
"You are my brother, and I am ashamed to acknowledge you. I was willing
to give my last sou, to sell my belongings, to take from the poor to help
you--until you defamed a good man. You cannot make me believe," she
cried, unheeding the color that surged into her cheeks, "you cannot make
me believe that he would use this money. You cannot make me believe it."
"Let us do him the credit of thinking that he means to repay it," said
Auguste.
Antoinette's eyes filled with tears,--tears of pride, of humiliation, ay,
and of an anger of which I had not thought her capable. She was indeed a
superb creature then, a personage I had not imagined. Gathering up her
gown, she passed Auguste and turned on him swiftly.
"If you were to bring that to him," she said, pointing to the bag in my
hand, "he would not so much as touch it. To-morrow I shall go to the
Ursulines, and I thank God I shall never see you again. I thank God I
shall no longer be your sister. Give Monsieur the bundle," she said to
the frightened Andre, who still stood by the hedge; "he may need food and
clothes for his journey.
Pages:
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704