ot fail remarking
the singular change in their countenances in his presence; but he knew
that his servant, without thinking of harm, had spoken of his visit to
Madame de Campvallon, and he attributed the coldness and embarrassment
of the two women to this fact. He was less disquieted at this,
because he was resolved to keep them entirely safe. As a result of his
reflections during the night, he had determined to break off forever his
intrigue with Madame de Campvallon. For this rupture, which he had made
it a point of honor not to provoke, Madame de Campvallon had herself
furnished him a sufficient pretext.

The criminal thought she had suggested was, he knew, only a feint to
test him, but it was enough to justify his abandonment of her. As to the
violent and menacing words the Marquise had used, he held them of
little value, though at times the remembrance of them troubled him.
Nevertheless, for many years he had not felt his heart so light.
This wicked tie once broken, it seemed as if he had resumed, with his
liberty, his youth and virtue. He walked and played a part of the day
with his little son. After dinner, just as night fell, clear and pure,
he proposed to Madame de Camors a tete-a-tete excursion in the woods.
He spoke to her of a view which had struck him shortly before on such a
night, and which would please, he said laughingly, her romantic taste.

He would not permit himself to be surprised at the disinclination she
manifested, at the disquietude which her face indicated, or at the rapid
glance she exchanged with her mother.

The same thought, and that a most fearful one; entered the minds of both
these unfortunate women at the same moment.

They were still under the impression of the shock which had so weakened
their nerves, and the brusque proposition of M. de Camors, so contrary
to his usual habits-the hour, the night, and the solitary walk--had
suddenly awakened in their brains the sinister images which Madame de
la Roche-Jugan had laid there. Madame de Camors, however, with an air of
resolution the circumstances did not seem entitled to demand, prepared
immediately to go out, then followed her husband from the house, leaving
her little son in charge of her mother. They had only to cross the
garden to find themselves on the edge of the wood which almost touched
their dwelling, and which stretched to the old fields inherited from the
Comte de Tecle. The intention of Camors in seeking this tete-a-tete