The Frontier/Part 2/Chapter 1
CHAPTER I
THE TWO WOMEN
Suzanne Jorancé pushed the swing-gate and entered the grounds of the Old Mill.
She was dressed in white and her face looked fresh and cool under a large hat of Leghorn straw, with its black-velvet strings hanging loose upon her shoulders. Her short skirt showed her dainty ankles. She walked with a brisk step, using a tall, iron-shod stick, while her disengaged hand crumpled some flowers which she had gathered on the way and which she dropped heedlessly as she went.
The Morestals' peaceful house was waking in the morning sun. Several of the windows were open; and Suzanne saw Marthe writing at the table in her bedroom.
She called out:
"Can I come up?"
But Mme. Morestal appeared at one of the windows of the drawing-room and made an imperious sign to her:
"Hush! Don't speak!"
"What's the matter?" asked Suzanne, when she joined the old lady.
"They're asleep."
"Who?"
"Why, the father and son."
"Oh!" said Suzanne. "Philippe too? ..."
"Yes, they must have come in late and they are resting. Neither of them has rung his bell yet. But tell me, Suzanne, aren't you going away?"
"To-morrow ... or the next day.... I confess, I'm in no hurry to go."
Mme. Morestal took her to her daughter-in-law's room and asked:
"Philippe's still asleep, isn't he?"
"I suppose so," said Marthe. "I haven't heard him move...."
"Nor I Morestal.... And yet he's an early riser, as a rule.... And Philippe, who wanted to go tramping at daybreak! ... However, so much the better, sleep suits both of my men.... By the way, Marthe, didn't the shooting wake you in the night?"
"The shooting!"
"Oh, of course, your room is on the other side. The sound came from the frontier.... Some poacher, I suppose...."
"Were M. Morestal and Philippe in?"
"Surely! It must have been one or two o'clock ... perhaps later ... I don't quite know."
She put the tea-pot and the jar of honey, which Marthe had had for breakfast, on the tray; and, with her mania for tidying, obeying some mysterious principle of symmetry, settled her daughter-in-law's things and any piece of furniture in the room that had been moved from its place. This done, with her hands hanging before her, she looked round for an excuse to discontinue this irksome activity. Then, discovering none, she left the room.
"How early you are," said Marthe to Suzanne.
"I wanted air ... and movement.... Besides, I told Philippe that I would come and fetch him. I want to go and see the ruins of the Petite-Chartreuse with him ... It's a bore that he's not up yet."
She seemed disappointed at this accident which deprived her of a pleasure.
"Do you mind if I finish my letters?" asked Marthe, taking up her pen.
Suzanne strolled round the room, looking out of the window, leant to see if Philippe's was open, then sat down opposite Marthe and examined her long and carefully. She noted the eye-lids, which were a little rumpled; the uneven colouring; the tiny wrinkles on the temples; a few white hairs mingling with the dark tresses; all that proclaims time's little victories over waning youth. And, raising her eyes, she saw herself in a glass.
Marthe surprised her glance and cried, with an admiration free from all envy:
"You are splendid, Suzanne! You look like a triumphant goddess. What triumph have you achieved?"
Suzanne flushed and, in her confusion, said, at random:
"But you, Marthe, you look worried...."
"Well, yes ... perhaps I am."
And Marthe told how, on the previous evening, finding herself alone with her mother-in-law, she had spoken to her of Philippe's new ideas, the spirit of his work, his plan of resigning his position and his firm intention to have an explanation with M. Morestal.
"Well?"
"Well," said Marthe, "my mother-in-law flew out. She absolutely objects to any explanation whatever."
"Why?"
"M. Morestal is suffering from heart-trouble. Dr. Borel, who has attended him for the last twenty years, says that he must be spared any annoyance, any excessive excitement. And an interview with Philippe might have fatal results.... What can one reply to that?"
"You will have to tell Philippe."
"Certainly. And he, he must either keep silent and continue to lead an intolerable existence, or else, at the cost of the most terrible anguish, face M. Morestal's anger."
She was silent for a moment and then, striking the table with her clenched fists:
"Oh," she exclaimed, "if I could only take all those worries upon myself and save Philippe's peace of mind!"
Suzanne felt all the force of her vehemence and energy. No pain would have frightened Marthe, no sacrifice would have been beyond her strength.
"Do you love Philippe very much?" she asked.
Marthe smiled:
"With all my heart.... He deserves it."
The younger woman felt a certain bitterness and could not help saying:
"Does he love you as much as you love him?"
"Why, yes, I think so.... I deserve it too."
"And do you trust him?"
"Oh, fully! Philippe is the most loyal creature I know."
"Still ..."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Yes, say what you were going to.... Oh, you need not be afraid of asking me questions!"
"Well, I was thinking ... suppose Philippe loved another woman...."
Marthe burst out laughing:
"If you knew how little importance Philippe attaches to all that business of love!"
"However, supposing ..."
"Very well, supposing," she said, pretending to be serious. "Philippe loves another woman. He is madly in love with her. What then?"
"In that case, what would you do?"
"Upon my word ... I've never thought about it."
"Wouldn't you go for a divorce?"
"And my children?"
"But, if he wanted to be divorced?"
"Then it would be, 'Good-bye, M. Philippe!'"
Suzanne reflected, without taking her eyes from Marthe, as though she were spying for a sign of uneasiness on her features or seeking to fathom the depths of her most secret thoughts.
She murmured:
"And, if he deceived you?"
This time, the thrust went home. Marthe shivered, stung to the quick. Her face altered. And she said, in a voice which she made an effort to contain:
"Oh, that, no! If Philippe fell in love with another woman, if he wanted to begin his life again, without me, and if he confessed it frankly, I should consent to everything ... yes, to everything, even to a divorce, however great my despair.... But treachery, lying ..."
"You would not forgive him?"
"Never! Philippe is not a man whom one can forgive. He is a conscious man, who knows what he is doing, incapable of a weakness; and no forgiveness would absolve him. Besides, I myself could not ... no ... I could not indeed." And she added, "I have too much pride."
The phrase was gravely and simply uttered and revealed a haughtiness of soul which Suzanne had not suspected. She felt a sort of confusion in the presence of the rival whom she was attacking and who held her at bay with such disdain.
A long silence divided the two women; and Marthe said:
"You're in one of your wicked moods to-day, Suzanne, aren't you?"
"I am too happy to be wicked," chuckled the girl. "Only it's such a strange happiness! I am afraid it won't last."
"Your marriage ..."
"I won't get married!" declared Suzanne, excitedly. "I won't get married at any price! I hate that man.... He's not the only man in the world, is he? There are others ... others who will love me.... I too am worthy of being loved ... worthy of being lived for! ..."
There were tears in her voice; and so great a despondency overwhelmed her features that Marthe felt a longing to console her, as was her habit in such cases. Nevertheless, she said nothing. Suzanne had wounded her, not so much by her questions as by her attitude, by a certain sarcasm in her accent and by an air of defiance that mingled with the expression of her grief.
She preferred to cut short a painful scene the meaning of which escaped her, although the scene itself did not astonish her on Suzanne's part:
"I am going downstairs," she said. "It's time for the post; and I am expecting letters."
"So you're leaving me!" said Suzanne, in a broken voice.
Marthe could not help laughing:
"Well, yes, I am leaving you in this room ... unless you refuse to stay...."
Suzanne ran after her and, holding her back:
"You mustn't! I only ask for a movement, a kind word.... I am passing through a terrible time, I need help and you ... you repel me.... It's you who are repelling me, don't forget that.... It's you...."
"That's understood," said Marthe. "I am a cruel friend.... Only, you see, my dear little Suzanne, if the thought of your marriage upsets you to that extent, it might be a good plan to tell your father.... Come, come along downstairs and calm yourself."
They found Mme. Morestal below, feather-broom in hand, an apron tied round her waist, waging her daily battle against a dust that existed only in her imagination.
"I suppose you know, mamma, that Philippe is not yet up?"
"The lazy fellow! It's nearly nine o'clock. I hope he's not ill!"
"Oh, no!" said Marthe. "But, all the same, when I go up again, I'll look in and see."
Mme. Morestal went as far as the hall with the two young women. Suzanne was already walking away, without a word, with the face which she wore on her black days, as Marthe said, when Mme. Morestal called her back:
"You're forgetting your stick, child."
The old lady had taken the long, iron-shod walking-stick from the umbrella-stand. But, suddenly, she began to rummage among the canes and sunshades, muttering:
"Well, that's funny...."
"What's the matter?" asked Marthe.
"I can't find Morestal's stick. And yet it's always here."
"He must have put it down somewhere else."
"Impossible! If so, it would be the first time in his life. I know him so well! ... What can it mean? ... Victor!"
The man ran into the hall:
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Victor, why isn't your master's cane here?"
"I have a notion, ma'am, that the master has gone out."
"Gone out! But you ought to have told me.... I was beginning to be anxious."
"I said so just now to Catherine."
"But what makes you think ...?"
"In the first place, the master did not put his boots outside his door as usual.... M. Philippe neither...."
"What!" said Marthe. "Has M. Philippe gone out too?"
"Very early this morning, ma'am ... before my time for getting up."
In spite of herself, Suzanne Jorancé protested:
"But no, it's not conceivable...."
"Why, when I came down," said Victor, "the front-door was not locked."
"And your master never forgets to turn the key, does he?"
"Never. As the door was not locked, it means either that the master has gone out ... or else...."
"Or else what?"
"That he hasn't come in.... Only, I say that as I might say anything that came into my head...."
"Not come in!" exclaimed Mme. Morestal.
She reflected for a second, then turned on her heels, ran up the stairs with surprising agility, crossed a passage and entered her husband's bedroom.
She uttered a cry and called:
"Marthe!... Marthe!..."
But the young woman, who had followed her, was already on her way to the second floor, with Suzanne.
Philippe's room was at the back. She opened the door quickly and stood on the threshold, speechless.
Philippe was not there; and the bed had not even been undone.