e long, and that after his death you are to marry
Sallenauve, because, on the _other side_, husbands and wives who
really love each other are reunited; and she thinks we shall all
four--she and I and you and Sallenauve--be much happier together
than if we had your present husband, who is very dull, and whom
you married reluctantly.

My message given, nothing remains for me, madame, but to wish you
all the patience you need to continue for your allotted time in
this low world, and to subscribe myself
Your very affectionately devoted

Marie-Gaston.

If, after reading this letter, it had occurred to Monsieur de l'Estorade
to look at himself in the glass, he would have seen, in the sudden
convulsion and discoloration of his face, the outward and visible signs
of the terrible blow which his unfortunate curiosity had brought down
upon him. His heart, his mind, his self-respect staggered under one and
the same shock; the madness evident in the sort of prediction made about
him only added to his sense of its horror. Presently convincing himself,
like a mussulman, that madmen have the gift of second sight, he believed
he was a lost man, and instantly a stabbing pain began on his liver
side, while in the direction of Sallenauve, his predicted successor,
an awful hatred succeeded to his mild good-will. But at the same time,
conscious of the total want of reason and even of the absurdity of the
impression which had suddenly surged into his mind, he was afraid lest
its existence should be suspected, and he looked about him to see in
what way he could conceal from his wife his fatal indiscretion, the
consequences of which must forever weigh upon his life. It was certain,
he thought, that if she found the paper in his study she would deduce
therefrom the fact that he had read it. Rising from his desk, he softly
opened the door leading from the study to the salon, crossed the latter
room on tiptoe, and dropped the letter at the farther end of it, as
Madame de l'Estorade might suppose she had herself done in her hasty
departure. Then returning to his study, he scattered his papers over his
desk, like a school-boy up to mischief, who wants to mislead his master
by a show of application, intending to appear absorbed in his accounts
when his wife returned. Useless to add that he listened with keen
anxiety lest some other person than she should come into the salon; in
which case he determined to rush out and prevent oth