"And speaking of Paul Valmain," he went on, a menacing note creeping into his tones, "I have been talking to Hector again this afternoon about that night--the night that Valmain said he saw you enter the house."
She looked at him quickly. Surely, after what she had said to Hector, Hector had not dared to speak of the girl to whom he had given--reprehensibly, she had taken pains to make Hector understand--a key to Jean's studio. She believed she had frightened Hector and Madame Mi-mi too thoroughly for that, and yet--if he had!
"Well?"--serenely, as her eyebrows went up.
"Nothing! He knows nothing! He heard nothing!" Jean flung out impatiently. "But Hector is a fool, and Valmain said he saw you go in."
"Well, was I there?" she inquired frigidly.
"No, you were not there--naturally!" he asserted with wrathful finality. "But--I have been thinking--if it were some one else!"
"Ah!" Myrna's smile was cold, as she rose with a curiously ominous air from her chair. "Ah! Some one else! Well, since you bring up the subject again, do you imagine I am so stupid that such a possibility has not also occurred to _me_? Your conscience seems to trouble you, Monsieur Jean! If there was some one else--a woman in your rooms from two o'clock at night until daylight--you should know better who it was, I imagine, than either Hector or Madame Mi-mi! And since I am your fiancée, Monsieur Jean--perhaps you will explain!"
"But, _sacre nom d'un diable_!" Jean shouted in angry amazement. "I know of no woman!"
"If there was a woman there it is inconceivable that you should not know it"--Myrna's voice was monotonous, relentless.
"But, I tell you--_no_!"--Jean's hands went up in the air, as he raged in exasperation. "Do you understand, that I tell you--no? It is not so! There was no woman there!"
"Well, then?" Jean stormed furiously, clenching his fists, "it can be nothing but that cursed Valmain and his damned jealousy! It can be nothing but a lie, all of it, that he has made up! It is all a lie then--nothing but a lie! And so I am not through with him! He will answer for it! I am not through with him! It will not be with swords this time--we will fight with pistols, and I will kill him! He thinks he has no longer any reason to hide and stay away--but, _nom de Dieu_, he will see! I promise you that! Vinailles told me that Valmain would be back the day after to-morrow, and"--he laughed out harshly--"the day after to-morrow--"