The Clique of Gold by Emile Gaboriau (polar express read aloud .TXT) ๐
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- Author: Emile Gaboriau
Read book online ยซThe Clique of Gold by Emile Gaboriau (polar express read aloud .TXT) ๐ยป. Author - Emile Gaboriau
โDid I not tell you it was all right?โ
He did not want the man to see his excitement, the most intense excitement he had ever experienced in all his life. His hands shook; he felt a burning sensation in his throat; his knees gave way under him. He looked at himself in the glass, and was startled; he looked deadly pale.
โAm I going to be ill?โ he thought.
On the table stood a carafe with water. He filled a large glass, and drank it at one draught; this made him feel better, and he went out. But, once outside, he was so overcome, that he lost his way in the long passages and interminable staircases, in spite of the directions hung up at every turn, and had finally to ask a waiter, who pointed out a door which he had passed half a dozen times, and said,โ
โThat is No. 5.โ
He knocked gently, and the door opened instantly, as if somebody had been standing behind it, ready to open it promptly. As he entered, he tottered, and, almost in a mist, saw on his right side Papa Ravinet and an old lady, then, farther back, near the window, Henrietta.
He uttered a cry, and went forward. But as quickly she bounded to meet him, casting both arms around his neck, and leaning upon his bosom, sobbing and stammering,โ
โDaniel, Daniel! At last!โ
XXIX.
It was exactly two years since Daniel and Henrietta had been parted by the foulest treachery,โtwo years since that fatal evening when the stupidly ironical voice of Count Ville-Handry had suddenly made itself heard near them under the old trees of the garden of the palace.
What had not happened since then? What unheard-of, most improbable events; what trials, what tribulations, what sufferings! They had endured all that the human heart can endure. There was not a day, so to say, in these two years, that had not brought them its share of grief and sorrow. How often both of them had despaired of the future! How many times they had sighed for death!
And yet, after all these storms, here they were reunited once more, in unspeakable happiness, forgetting every thing,โtheir enemies and the whole world, the anxieties of the past, and the uncertainty of the future.
They remained thus for a long time, holding each other closely, overcome with happiness, unable, as yet, to believe in the reality for which they had sighed so long, unable to utter a word, laughing and weeping in one breath.
Now and then they would move apart a little, throwing back the head in order the better to look at each other; then swiftly they would fold each other again closely in their arms, as if they were afraid they might be separated anew.
โHow they love each other!โ whispered Mrs. Bertolle in her brotherโs ear,โโthe poor young people!โ
And big tears rolled down her cheeks, while the old dealer, not less touched, but showing his emotion differently, closed his hands fiercely, and said,โ
โAll right, all right! They will have to pay for everything.โ
Daniel, in the meantime, was recovering himself gradually; and reason once more got the better of his feelings. He led Henrietta to an arm- chair at the corner of the fireplace, and sitting down in front of her, after having taken her hands in his own, he asked her to give him a faithful account of the two terrible years that had just come to an end.
She had to tell him everything,โher humiliations in her fatherโs house, the insults she had endured, the wicked slanders by which her honor had been tainted, the incomprehensible blindness of the count, the surly provocations of her step-mother, the horrible attentions of Sir Thorn; in fine, the whole abominable plot which had been formed, as she found out too late, for the purpose of driving her to seek safety in flight, and to give herself up to Maxime de Brevan.
Trembling with rage, livid, his eyes bloodshot, Daniel suddenly let go Henriettaโs hands, and exclaimed in a half-smothered voice,โ
โAh, Henrietta! your father deservedโWretched old man! to abandon his child to the mercy of such miserable wretches!โ
And, when the poor girl looked at him imploringly, he replied,โ
โBe it so! I will say nothing more of the count. He is your father, and that is enough.โ
Then he added coldly,โ
โBut that M. Thomas Elgin, I swear by God he shall die by my hand; and as to Sarah Brandonโโ
He was interrupted by the old dealer, who tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and said with an indescribable smile,โ
โYou shall not do that honor to the Hon. M. Elgin, M. Champcey. People like him do not die by the sword of honest men.โ
In the meantime Henrietta had resumed her history, and spoke of her surprise and amazement when she reached that bare room in Water Street, with its scanty second-hand furniture.
โAnd yet, Henrietta,โ here broke in Daniel, โI had handed that man all my money to be placed at your disposal in case of any accident.โ
โWhat!โ exclaimed the old dealer, โyou hadโโ
He did not finish, but looked at the young officer with an utterly amazed air, as if he were an improbable phenomenon, never seen before.
Daniel shook his head sadly.
โYes,โ he said, โI know it was an insane thing. But it was less insane than to intrust my betrothed to his care. I believed in the friendship of that man.โ
โAnd besides,โ remarked Mrs. Bertolle, โhow could you suppose such atrocious treachery? There are crimes which honest hearts never even conceive.โ
Henrietta continued, describing her sensations when she found herself for the first time in her life harassed by want, destitution, hunger. But, when she came to the disgusting ill-treatment she received at the hands of the conciergeโs wife, Daniel cried out,โ
โStop!โ
And, fearfully excited, he asked her,โ
โDid I hear right? Did you say the concierge of that house in Water Street, and his wife, were called Chevassat?โ
โYes, why?โ
โBecause Maxime de Brevanโs real name is Justin Chevassat.โ
Papa Ravinet started up as if he had been shot.
โWhat,โ he said, โyou know that?โ
โI learned it three months ago. I also know that my friend, the proud nobleman, Maxime de Brevan, who has been received in the most aristocratic
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