Charles. "How did you get into the city?" I said; "were you mad to defy
the Baron and his police?"
"Damn the Baron and his police," he answered, striving to pass me. "Let
me in! Let me see her."
Even as he spoke I caught sight of men coming into the street, perhaps at
the corner of the Rue St. Pierre, and then more men, and as we went into
the house I saw that they were running. I closed the doors. There were
cries in the street now, but he did not seem to heed them. He stood
listening, heart-stricken, to the sounds that came through the bedroom
wall, and a spasm crossed his face. Then he turned like a man not to be
denied, to the bedroom door. I was before him, but Madame la Vicomtesse
opened it. And I remember feeling astonishment that she did not show
surprise or alarm.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Temple?" she said.
"My mother, Madame! My mother! I must go to her."
He pushed past her into the bedroom, and I followed perforce. I shall
never forget the scene, though I had but the one glimpse of it,--the
raving, yellowed woman in the bed, not a spectre nor yet even a semblance
of the beauty of Temple Bow. But she was his mother, upon whom God had
brought such a retribution as He alone can bestow. Lindy, faithful
servant to the end, held the wasted hands of her mistress against the
violence they would have done.
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