"You here, monsieur!" she said, striving to recover her courage; "I did not suppose that you would dare to appear in my presence again!"
"I beg pardon, madame," Dufresne replied in a hypocritical tone; "I hoped time would lessen your hatred."
"Never, monsieur; you know too well that your outrages can never be effaced from my memory! Make haste to tell me what brings you here."
"I am going to cause you distress again; but your husband's orders----"
"My mother! Oh heaven! It cannot be that she is sick? But she wrote me only a short time ago."
"An attack of apoplexy, a blood vessel----"
"Great God! she is dead, and I did not see her in her last moments!"
Adeline fell upon a chair, utterly crushed; two streams of tears flowed from her eyes, and her sobs, her grief, would have moved the most insensible of mortals; but gentle sentiments were not made for Dufresne's heart; he was only moved by the passions which degrade mankind. He contemplated in silence the despair of a young and lovely woman, whose unhappiness was his work; he listened to her sighs, he seemed to count her sobs, and far from feeling the slightest twinge of repentance, he deliberated upon the fresh torments which he proposed to inflict on her.
Dufresne's presence intensified Adeline's grief; before him she could not even weep freely and think solely of her mother; she tried to summon a little courage in order to dismiss the contemptible man who fed upon her suffering.
"Was your only purpose in coming here to tell me of the cruel loss I have suffered?" she said, rising and trying to restrain her sobs.
"Madame, the property which Madame Germeuil left must be administered; I feared that it would be painful to you to attend to these details which are indeed your husband's concern, but we require your signature, and I have brought the papers."
"Oh! give them to me, give them to me! I will sign anything; I consent to give up everything! But at least let my retirement no longer be disturbed by your presence!"
As she spoke, Adeline seized the papers which Dufresne handed her, she signed them all blindly, and handed them back to him, and was turning away, but he grasped her with violence by the arm, just as she was about to leave the salon.