"Mea
culpa! Mea maxima culpa!" said he, beating his breast. "Oh, Cadet,
we are burying her like a dog! I cannot, I cannot do it!"
The Intendant's feelings overcame him again, and he rushed from the
chamber, while Cadet, glad of his absence for a few moments, hastily
filled up the grave and, replacing with much care the stone slabs
over it, swept the debris into the passage and spread the carpet
again smoothly over the floor. Every trace of the dreadful deed was
obliterated in the chamber of murder.
Cadet, acutely thinking of everything at this supreme moment, would
leave no ground of suspicion for Dame Tremblay when she came in the
morning to visit the chamber. She should think that her lady had
gone away with her master as mysteriously as she had come, and no
further inquiry would be made after her. In this Cadet was right.
It was necessary for Cadet and Bigot now to depart by the secret
passage to the tower. The deep-toned bell of the chateau struck
three.
"We must now be gone, Bigot, and instantly," exclaimed Cadet.
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