The Works of Guy de Maupassant Volume V Part 50

"'No, I have never been in Italy.'

"My brother, quite stunned, went on:

"'The Comte has requested me to give you this money, and tell you that it is all broken off.'

"She became serious again, calmly putting the money into her pocket, and, in an ingenuous tone asked:

"'And I am not, then, to see the Comte any more?'

"'No, madame.'

"She appeared to be annoyed, and in a pa.s.sionless voice she said:

"'So much the worse; I was very fond of him.'

"Seeing that she had made up her mind on the subject so resolutely, my brother, smiling in his turn, said to her:

"'Look here, now, tell me why you invented all this tricky yarn, complicating it by bringing in the sham journey to Italy and the child?'"

She gazed at my brother in amazement, as if he had asked her a stupid question, and replied:

"'I say! How spiteful you are! Do you believe a poor little woman of the people such as I am--nothing at all--could have for three years kept on my hands the Comte de L----, Minister, a great personage, a man of fas.h.i.+on, wealthy and seductive, if she had not taken a little trouble about it? Now it is all over. So much the worse. It couldn't last for ever. None the less I succeeded in doing it for three years. You will say many things to him on my behalf.'

"She rose up. My brother continued questioning her:

"'But--the child? You had one to show him?'

"'Certainly--my sister's child. She lent it to me. I'd bet it was she gave you the information.'

"'Good! And all those letters from Italy?'

"She sat down again so as to laugh at her ease.

"'Oh! those letters--well, they were a bit of poetry. The Comte was not a Minister of Foreign Affairs for nothing.'

"'But--another thing?'

"Oh! the other thing is my secret. I don't want to compromise anyone.'

"And bowing to him with a rather mocking smile, she left the room without any emotion, an actress who had played her part to the end."

And the Comte de L---- added by way of moral:

"So take care about putting your trust in that sort of turtle dove!"