When, a few moments later, the two women were seated under a strong
light on that divan where the first three weeks so many comedies had
been played, and where the secret tragedy of many thwarted passions
had begun, they examined each other for the last time, and felt they
were forever parted by an undying hatred.
"Calyste remains to you," said Beatrix, looking into Camille's eyes;
"but I am fixed in his heart, and no woman can ever drive me out of
it."
Camille replied, with an inimitable tone of irony that struck the
marquise to the heart, in the famous words of Mazarin's niece to Louis
XIV.,--
"You reign, you love, and you depart!"
Neither Camille nor Beatrix was conscious during this sharp and bitter
scene of the absence of Conti and Calyste. The composer had remained
at table with his rival, begging him to keep him company in finishing
a bottle of champagne.
"We have something to say to each other," added Conti, to prevent all
refusal on the part of Calyste.
Placed as they both were, it was impossible for the young Breton to
refuse this challenge.
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