She thereupon gave him to understand that
whosoever was not entirely on her side was, in reality, against her.
To all appearance, he made his submission; in reality, he only loved the
child the more for the thwarting of his passion, and he watched for her
in order to kiss her in secret. In his daily intercourse with Constance,
in showing apparent fidelity to the former mistress of the works, he now
simply yielded to fear, like the poor weak being he was, one whom
Constance had ever bent beneath her stern hand. The pact between them was
an old one, it dated from that monstrous thing which they alone knew,
that complicity of which they never spoke, but which bound them so
closely together.
He, with his weak, good nature, seemed from that day to have remained
annihilated, tamed, cowed like a frightened animal. Since that day, too,
he had learnt many other things, and now no secret of the house remained
unknown to him. This was not surprising. He had been living there so many
years. He had so often walked to and fro with his short, discreet,
maniacal step, hearing, seeing, and surprising everything! However, this
madman, who knew the truth and who remained silent--this madman, left
free amid the mysterious drama enacted in the Beauchenes' home, was
gradually coming to a rebellious mood, particularly since he was
compelled to hide himself to kiss his little friend Hortense.
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