He frowned at her apparently in speechless anger, seeking an answer.
But for the moment he could think of none, so he turned to the
knives again, which he was cleaning on a board on the kitchen-table.
At length he paused and glanced at Desiree.
"And your husband," he said slowly. "Remember that he is a partner
with this De Casimir. They hunt together. I know it; for I was in
Moscow. Ah! that makes you stand stiffly, and push your chin out."
He went on cleaning the knives, and, without looking at her, seemed
to be speaking his own thoughts aloud.
"Yes! He is a traitor. And he is worse than the other; for he is
no Pole, but a Frenchman. And if he returns to France, the Emperor
will say: 'Where are my despatches, my maps, my papers, which were
given into your care?'"
He finished the thought with three gestures, which seemed to
illustrate the placing of a man against a wall and shooting him.
His meaning could not be mistaken.
"And that is what the patron means when he says that Monsieur
Charles Darragon will not return to Dantzig. I knew that he meant
that last night, when he was so angry--on the mat."
"And why did you not tell me?"
Barlasch looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, before replying
slowly and impressively.
"Because, if I had told you, you might have decided to quit Dantzig
with Mademoiselle Mathilde, and go hunting your husband in a country
overrun by desperate fugitives and untamed Cossacks.
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