What could be the meaning of so extraordinary a change in the
gay, witty, prosperous De Chaulieu, who, till that morning, seemed not
to have a care in the world? For, plead illness as he might, she felt
certain, from the expression of his features, that his sufferings were
not of the body, but of the mind; and unable to imagine any reason for
such extraordinary manifestations, of which she had never before seen
a symptom, but a sudden aversion to herself, and regret for the step
he had taken, her pride took the alarm, and, concealing the distress
she really felt, she began to assume a haughty and reserved manner
toward him, which he naturally interpreted into an evidence of anger
and contempt.
The dinner was placed upon the table, but De Chaulieu's appetite, of
which he had lately boasted, was quite gone; nor was his wife better
able to eat. The young sister alone did justice to the repast; but
although the bridegroom could not eat, he could swallow champagne in
such copious draughts that erelong the terror and remorse which the
apparition of Jacques Rollet had awakened in his breast were drowned
in intoxication.
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