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CHAPTER XXVII.
"
I Remember only the expression of their faces when I opened the door. I
remember that, because it awakened in me a feeling of sorrowful joy.
It was an expression of terror, such as I desired. Never shall I forget
that desperate and sudden fright that appeared on their faces when they
saw me. He, I believe, was at the table, and, when he saw or heard me,
he started, jumped to his feet, and retreated to the sideboard. Fear
was the only sentiment that could be read with certainty in his face.
In hers, too, fear was to be read, but accompanied by other impressions.
And yet, if her face had expressed only fear, perhaps that which
happened would not have happened. But in the expression of her face
there was at the first moment--at least, I thought I saw it--a feeling
of ennui, of discontent, at this disturbance of her love and happiness.
One would have said that her sole desire was not to be disturbed IN THE
MOMENT OF HER HAPPINESS. But these expressions appeared upon their
faces only for a moment. Terror almost immediately gave place to
interrogation. Would they lie or not? If yes, they must begin. If not,
something else was going to happen. But what?
"
He gave her a questioning glance. On her face the expression of anguish
and ennui changed, it seemed to me, when she looked at him, into an
expression of anxiety for HIM. For a moment I stood in the doorway,
holding the dagger hidden behind my back. Suddenly he smiled, and in a
voice that was indifferent almost to the point of ridicule, he said:
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