This letter, which was addressed to Mathieu, recounted the
whole affair--Alexandre's resurrection, Constance's plans, and the
service which he himself had promised to render her. These things were
set down simply as his impulse dictated, like a kind of confession by
which he relieved his feelings. He had not yet come to any positive
decision as to how he should play the part of a justiciar, which seemed
so heavy to his shoulders. His one purpose was to warn Mathieu in order
that there might be two of them to decide and act. And he simply finished
by asking the other to come to see him on the following evening, though
not before six o'clock, as he desired to see Alexandre and learn how the
interview passed off, and what Constance might require of the young man.
The ensuing night, the ensuing day, must have been full of abominable
torment for Morange. The doorkeeper's wife recounted, later on, that the
fourth-floor tenant had heard the old gentleman walking about overhead
all through the night. Doors were slammed, and furniture was dragged
about as if for a removal. It was even thought that one could detect
cries, sobs, and the monologues of a madman addressing phantoms, some
mysterious rendering of worship to the dead who haunted him.
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