Читать книгу Arsène Lupin онлайн

57 страница из 64

He turned to his wife:

“Will you give me that ring of your own free will?”

“You know,” she said, “from the other night, that it won’t come off my finger.”

“In that case, can I have the man up? He has the necessary implements with him.”

“Yes,” she said, in a voice faint as a whisper.

She was resigned. She conjured up the future as in a vision: the scandal, the decree of divorce pronounced against herself, the custody of the child awarded to the father; and she accepted this, thinking that she would carry off her son, that she would go with him to the ends of the earth and that the two of them would live alone together and happy….

Her mother-in-law said:

“You have been very thoughtless, Yvonne.”

Yvonne was on the point of confessing to her and asking for her protection. But what was the good? How could the Comtesse d’Origny possibly believe her innocent? She made no reply.

Besides, the count at once returned, followed by his servant and by a man carrying a bag of tools under his arm.

And the count said to the man: