human
In truth! It is Monsieur Clarges. Returned--at last! Monsieur has been away long. Perhaps to his own land. No matter. Now he is back. Yet--yet---- she said, looking up at him in the gleaming light of the spring sun:
gpt
Monsieur has not been well. He is white--oh, so white! Evidently not well.
human
I have been close to death for months. At death's door. In the hospital of the Trinity. No matter for that. Instead, tell me where the lady is whom I left here on--on--the night I brought her. When did she cease to occupy these rooms; when depart? As I see she must have done by this. And he indicated with his finger the spider in its web.
gpt
Also, what message, what letter has she left for me?
human
Monsieur asks strange questions. Letters! Messages! From her?
gpt
From her. Surely she did not go away and leave none behind.
human
But--but---- the other stammered, she being appalled by the look in his eyes;
gpt
She went away upon that night! he said, his voice deep and low.
human
Upon that night?
gpt
Why, yes, Monsieur, the woman replied.
human
Why, yes. And now she found her natural garrulity; she began to tell her tale, such as it was.
gpt
I have always thought that, after Monsieur had given his orders as to Madame's occupation of the rooms, he and the lady had changed their minds and had decided to go away together. Especially since a compatriot of Monsieur's called a few days later and said that Madame was Monsieur's wife--that--that--the marriage had taken place on the morning of that day.
human
My compatriot told you that?
gpt
He told me so. As well as that he himself had assisted at the wedding. Therefore, I felt no surprise at the absence of Monsieur and Madame.
human
What? asked Walter Clarges, still in the low deep voice that was owing, perhaps, to the thrust through the lungs he had received in the Rue des Saints Apostoliques three months ago, perhaps to the tidings he was now gleaning--
gpt
Alas! the woman answered.
human
I knew nothing; saw nothing. I knew not when she went, and deemed for certain that Monsieur had returned for her. That he had taken her away with him.
gpt
You mean, then, that she went alone? Walked forth from this house alone. Leaving no word--no message. Has--never--since--sent--one. You mean that?
human
Monsieur, I know not what I mean. Oh! Monsieur, listen. That night was a night of horror. Awful things were being done outside. Monsieur knows. Hideous, heart-rending things! A neighbour of mine, Madame Prue, came in, rushed in in the evening, and said that the archers and exempts were seizing people in the streets who had committed no crimes, yet had been denounced by their neighbours as criminals. Her own son, she said, was abroad in the streets, and he was so wild, as well as hated by all in the quarter because he was a fighter and a brawler in his cups. She feared--she feared--she knew not what. That he might resist and become quarrelsome. Thereby, be lost and sent to the prisons--the galleys; even, some whispered, to foreign lands, exiled for ever. And she, Madame Prue, begged me to go with her, to assist in finding him--to--to----
gpt
Go on, said Walter Clarges.
human
Go on. You went. When did you return?
gpt
Not for three hours. We could not find the son--he has never been found yet. God alone knows where he is. His mother is heartbroken. They say--they say there are hundreds in the prisons being transported to foreign lands--to----.
human
You came not back for three hours! And the lady--my--my--wife?
gpt
Monsieur, she was gone. And I thought nought of it. The streets were in turbulence, shots were heard now and again; even houses, apartments entered. I deemed you had returned for her, dreading to leave her alone; that you had taken Madame away, dreading also to keep her in this quarter. That you had, perhaps, sought a better one, or the suburbs, and were enjoying--well! your honeymoon.
human
My honeymoon, he whispered to himself.
gpt
My God! Then he said aloud.
human
And there was no message? No letter left in the room? You are sure?
gpt
There was nothing. I entered the room meaning to offer Madame some supper--it was vacant. No sign of aught. The fire was gone out. The lamp was extinct. There was--nothing.
human
Nothing! Walter repeated.
gpt
Nothing! No sign of aught. Not a line of writing. No letter left then or come since.
human
Oh, exclaimed the woman,
gpt
And you have kept me thus in torture! Where are they? Where? Where? Doubtless one is from her?
human
I will go and fetch them. Since Monsieur has been away I have not opened the rooms. Not since I cleaned them during the first days of Monsieur's absence.
gpt
Fetch them at once, I beseech you. Yet, ere you go, give me the key of this padlock. Let me enter the rooms. Bring the letters here at once.
human
She will have gone to England, as I wished her. She has written from there. All will be well. All. All. Yet why did she go so soon? Why leave this house the moment my back was turned?