Du Tillet had heard some talk even in financial circles of the more or less possible adoration of his sister-in-law for Nathan;but he was one of those who denied it,thinking it incompatible with Raoul's known relations with Florine.The actress would certainly drive off the countess,or vice versa.But when,on coming home that evening,he found his sister-in-law with a perturbed face,in consultation with his wife about money,it occurred to him that Raoul had,in all probability,confided to her his situation.The countess must therefore love him;she had doubtless come to obtain from her sister the sum due to old Gigonnet.Madame du Tillet,unaware,of course,of the reasons for her husband's apparently supernatural penetration,had shown such stupefaction when he told her the sum wanted,that du Tillet's suspicions became certainties.He was sure now that he held the thread of all Nathan's possible manoeuvres.
No one knew that the unhappy man himself was in bed in a small hotel in the rue du Mail,under the name of the office watchman,to whom Marie had promised five hundred francs if he kept silence as to the events of the preceding night and morning.Thus bribed,the man,whose name was Francois Quillet,went back to the office and left word with the portress that Monsieur Nathan had been taken ill in consequence of overwork,and was resting.Du Tillet was therefore not surprised at Raoul's absence.It was natural for the journalist to hide under any such pretence to avoid arrest.When the sheriff's spies made inquiries they learned that a lady had carried him away in a public coach early in the morning;but it took three days to ferret out the number of the coach,question the driver,and find the hotel where the debtor was recovering his strength.Thus Marie's prompt action had really gained for Nathan a truce of four days.
Both sisters passed a cruel night.Such a catastrophe casts the lurid gleams of its charcoal over the whole of life,showing reefs,pools,depths,where the eye has hitherto seen only summits and grandeurs.
Struck by the horrible picture of a young man lying back in his chair to die,with the last proofs of his paper before him,containing in type his last thoughts,poor Madame du Tillet could think of nothing else than how to save him and restore a life so precious to her sister.It is the nature of our mind to see effects before we analyze their causes.Eugenie recurred to her first idea of consulting Madame Delphine de Nucingen,with whom she was to dine,and she resolved to make the attempt,not doubting of success.Generous,like all persons who are not bound in the polished steel armor of modern society,Madame du Tillet resolved to take the whole matter upon herself.
The countess,on the other hand,happy in the thought that she had saved Raoul's life,spent the night in devising means to obtain the forty thousand francs.In emergencies like these women are sublime;they find contrivances which would astonish thieves,business men,and usurers,if those three classes of industrials were capable of being astonished.First,the countess sold her diamonds and decided on wearing paste;then she resolved to ask the money from Vandenesse on her sister's account;but these were dishonorable means,and her soul was too noble not to recoil at them;she merely conceived them,and cast them from her.Ask money of Vandenesse to give to Nathan!She bounded in her bed with horror at such baseness.Wear false diamonds to deceive her husband!Next she thought of borrowing the money from the Rothschilds,who had so much,or from the archbishop of Paris,whose mission it was to help persons in distress;darting thus from thought to thought,seeking help in all.She deplored belonging to a class opposed to the government.Formerly,she could easily have borrowed the money on the steps of the throne.She thought of appealing to her father,the Comte de Granville.But that great magistrate had a horror of illegalities;his children knew how little he sympathized with the trials of love;he was now a misanthrope and held all affairs of the heart in horror.As for the Comtesse de Granville,she was living a retired life on one of her estates in Normandy,economizing and praying,ending her days between priests and money-bags,cold as ever to her dying moment.Even supposing that Marie had time to go to Bayeux and implore her,would her mother give her such a sum unless she explained why she wanted it?Could she say she had debts?Yes,perhaps her mother would be softened by the wants of her favorite child.Well,then!in case all other means failed,she WOULD go to Normandy.The dreadful sight of the morning,the effects she had made to revive Nathan,the hours passed beside his pillow,his broken confession,the agony of a great soul,a vast genius stopped in its upward flight by a sordid vulgar obstacle,--all these things rushed into her memory and stimulated her love.She went over and over her emotions,and felt her love to be deeper in these days of misery than in those of Nathan's fame and grandeur.She felt the nobility of his last words said to her in Lady Dudley's boudoir.What sacredness in that farewell!What grandeur in the immolation of a selfish happiness which would have been her torture!The countess had longed for emotions,and now she had them,--terrible,cruel,and yet most precious.She lived a deeper life in pain than in pleasure.With what delight she said to herself:"I have saved him once,and I will save him again."She heard him cry out when he felt her lips upon his forehead,"Many a poor wretch does not know what love is!""Are you ill?"said her husband,coming into her room to take her to breakfast.
"I am dreadfully worried about a matter that is happening at my sister's,"she replied,without actually telling a lie.
