The Eight Strokes of the Clock

it was while I was spending the Easter holidays at Nice with my

interru

just now you spoke of this you

name also,

two name

she said, with some embarrassment, "and that is why

o which Hortense had brought her friend Geneviève Aymard, a slender, pretty littl

ake my word for it, Geneviève

rest of the story, m

ève co

th sides. On my return to Paris, Jean Louis, who lives in the country with his mother and his aunt, took rooms in our part of the town; and, as I am allowed to go out by myself, we used to see each other daily. I need not tell you that we were engaged to be married. I told my father so. And this is what he said: 'I don't part

tacles in the way of ou

I love you more than ev

e

ved nothing: no reply to

else?" asked Rénine. "Or there may be some ol

e shook

ely convinced. There's a mystery in Jean Louis' life, or rather an endless number of mysteries which hamper and pursue him. I never saw such distress in a human face; and, from the firs

nfirmed by minor details, by things wh

ite know wh

names, fo

e was cert

id he introduce

uis d'Im

n Louis

t my father

hy

t Nice, by a gentleman who knew him. Besides, he carrie

questioned him

, he said that his aunt's name was

e secon

nd of his aunt as d'Imbleval. I pointed this out. He coloured

ive far fr

at the Manoir d'Elseven,

d asked the gi

tain that he loves

ness. He alone can save me. If he can't, then I shall be married in a week's time

ix, Madame Daniel and I,

ix at ten o'clock in the morning; and, after lunch, at half past twelve o'cl

said Rénine, with a laugh, as they alig

said. "She's the only friend I h

path which ran among the shrubberies of box and aucuba to the left and right of the main avenue. The avenue itself led to an old manor-house, long, low and picturesque, but provided with two clumsil

. The sound came through one of the windows of the ground-floor, which was level w

er," said Hortense. "I

ok here: if we walk straight ahead, we shan'

t to the front-door, through the roses and creepers they could both see and hear two o

leared; and at the farther side of the table sat a young man, doubtless Jean Louis himself, smo

much too yellow for the ravaged face around which they tumbled. The other, who was still thinner, but quite sho

e yelped. "The wickedest woman in th

!" screamed

the ducks at ten francs apiece:

he fifty-franc note from my dressing-table? Lord

y at the outrage and, addr

here and let me be insulted b

one retorte

, your Vaurois! She's got the airs of a supe

st upon the table, making the pla

h of you, you

im at once and loa

etty sort of son you are!... The son of

s and writhed as he sat at table like a man who has lost all patience

e whi

he time

infuriated people?

see them better wit

ked to the door, opened it and ente

omen stopped yelling, but were still scarlet in the face and

eneral confusion,

Daniel. We are friends of Mlle. Geneviève Aymard and we have come

e of Geneviève. Without quite knowing what he was saying and with the intention of responding to Rénine'

d'Imbleval; my moth

the mother, or with Madame Vaurois, the mother. But what happened was that Madame d'Imbleval and Madame Vaurois both at th

had the coolness ... she

of the room by a door on the left and next of his mother Vaurois and pushed her out of the room by a do

a week, Jean Louis. Com

and Prince Rénine will

affle you. Trust

EVIè

re the expression of melancholy and distress described by Geneviève. Indeed, the marks of s

n, while looking about him with a distracted ai

nothing to say. The sudden intervention had taken him at a disadv

w months and had suffered so severely in the retirement and obstinate silence in which he had taken refuge that he was not thinki

t it is in your best interests to confide in us. We ar

monsieur. I will tell you the whole secret, so that you may tell it to Geneviève. She will

nd, without any need of further persuasion, rather as though he

ey must have been invented by the brain of a madman or a drunkard. Judge for yourself. Twenty-seven years ago, the Manoir d'Elseven, which at that time consisted only of the main building, was occupied by an old doctor who, to increase his modest means, used to receive one or tw

ans of the two patients and the bewildered agitation of the nurse running from one to the other, bewailing her fate, opening the window to call out for the doctor or falling on her knees to implore the aid of Providence.... Madame Vaurois was the first to bring a son into the world. Mlle. Boussignol hurriedly carried him in here, washed and tended him and laid him in the cradle prepared for him.... But Madame d'Imbleval was screaming with pain; and the nurse had to attend to her while the newborn child was yelling like a stuck pig and the terrified mother, unable to stir from her bed, fainted.... Add to this all the wretchedness of darkness and disorder, the only lamp, without any oil, for the servant had neglected to fill it, the candles burning out, the moaning of the wind, the screeching of the owls, and you will understand that Mlle. Boussignol was scared out of her wits. However, at five o'clock in the morning, after many tragic incidents, she came in here with the d'Imbleval baby, likewise a boy, washed and tended him, laid him in his cradle and went off to help Madame Vaurois, who had come to herself and was crying out, while Madame d'Imbleval had fainted in her turn. And, when Mlle. Boussignol, having settled the two mothers, but half-crazed with fatigue, her brain in a whirl, returned to the new-born children, she realized with horror that she had wrapped th

conclusion, had given way to a hilarity which she could no longer restrain and su

filled with tears, "do forgive me

her of whom was certain that she was not one, both clung to Jean Louis. He might be a stranger; on the other hand, he might be their own flesh and blood. They loved him to excess and fought for him furiously. And, above all, they both came to hate each other with a deadly hatred. Differing completely in character and education and obliged to live together because neither was willing to forego the advantage of her possible maternity, they lived the life of irreconcilable enemies who can never lay their weapons aside.... I

hem!" exclaimed Hortense,

we still are, all three, insulting one another and blaming one another for our wasted lives. Oh, what a hell! And there was no escaping it. I tried often enough ... but in vain. The broken bonds became tied again. Only this summer, under the stimulus of my love for Geneviève, I tried to free myself and did my utmost to persuade

y saw, his was an unusually weak nature, incapable of reacting against a ridiculous position from which he had suffered ever since he was a child and which he had come to look upon as final and irremediable. He endured it as a man bears a c

le and quickly wrote a lette

e this note to Mlle. Aymard and

he other pressed the letter upo

s mean?" asked

ll not charge mysel

hy

u are comin

I

Aymard to-morrow and ask

with a rather disdainful air

nderstood a word of what I'

se went up

you sa

t will be

st have you

provided this gentleman is so ki

what object?" ask

oving that your story

took umbr

ieur, that I have not said a wor

you have not said a word that does not agree with what you believe to be

man folded

ems likely that I should know

ously be known to you only at secondhand. You have no pr

" exclaimed Jean Lo

he confusion th

were laid in the same cradle, with no marks to distinguis

er version of it,"

ersion? But you're

ing her of

her tears and despair are so much evidence of her good faith. For, after all, the two mothers were there

nd Madame Vaurois, who had no doubt been listening behind the doors a

've questioned her over and over a

d. "Explain yourself. Give your reasons for

al event! Enough of the uncanny! Enough of lamps that go out and candles that refuse to burn! No and again no, it is not admissable that a midwife should become confused in the essential details of her trade. However bewildered she may be by the unforeseen nature of the circumstances, a remnant of instinct is still on the alert, so that there is a place prepared for each child and each is kept distinct from the other. The first child is here, the second is there. Even if they are lying side by side, one is on the left and the other on the right. Even if they are wrapped in the same kind of binders, some little detai

stion; and so great was his power of persuasion that from the very first he shook

ressed round him and question

may know ... that she may

ected h

her statements and with reality. All the vast and intolerable mystery that has weighed down upon you three arises not from a momentary l

said, in a

lives at Carhaix.... W

at once

will take the motor and bring her

aper's shop. The chauffeur will show you.

her in any way. If she's uneasy, so much the bet

well-bound books and pretty knick-knacks denoted a love of art and a seeking after style in Jean Louis. This room was really h

n Louis and, in a

hey we

es

d y

me, with all the land around it,

ey any r

, both o

they could

doing so. But there can't be any questi

ed. The two women jumped up

I say. It's not a matter of asking her questions but of frightening he

tense sprang out and helped an old woman to alight, dressed in a

m. She had a pointed face, like a weasel's, wi

midly stepping into the room from which the doctor ha

ply. Rénine came forw

as the result of your false declarations, the birth-certificate of one of the children born in the course of that night is inaccurate. Now false declarations in matters of birth-certificates are misdemeano

eth were chattering. She was evidently incapab

o confess everyt

she p

be settled immediately. If you show the least hesitation,

es

ed to Je

s gentleman? Mada

N

aurois',

N

ence welcomed t

Rénine commanded,

so low and dull a voice that they had to bend over her

apped in blankets, which he wanted the doctor to look after. As the d

énine. "What did he

r. Put him in the place of one of the dead children.' He offered me a big sum of money, saying that this one payment would save him the expense of providing for his child every month; and I accepted. Only, I did not know in whose place to put him and whether to say that the boy was Louis d'Imbleval or Jean Vaurois

er head and wept. After

ees with the result

n I

es

oncerned? They won't be talking

re question: do you

n't tell me

ever seen

ev

anything m

N

sign the written text

es

you in a week or two. Till

ands. The bond of hatred and wretchedness which had bound them had suddenly snapped; and this rupture, without requiring them to reflect

nse. "This is the decisive moment of the

d preoccupied.

man go? Were you satisf

ed. She told us what happen

.. I don't

e moment, I repeat, we must get Jean Louis

to the y

Imbleval to separate for a time? That will enable you all to see matters more clearly and to decide in perfect fre

ed and undecided. Rénine

pinion too, I a

nod

l agreed. In great crises, there is nothing like separ

to hesitate, he drove him t

Louis left the manor-ho

re waiting at Carhaix station, to which the car had taken them, while Jean Lou

ill be glad," she

ired to the dining-car. Rénine, who had asked Hortense several qu

with you, my child?

ot at

you. Now, no secre

sm

course I am ... as regards my friend Geneviève, but that, in another respect--fr

I haven't 'stagge

very

all, what have I done? We arrived. We listened to Jean Loui

To tell you the truth, our other adventures left behind them an

e strikes yo

yes, and i

n what

th that woman's confession. Yes, very likely tha

can readily imagine!" said Rénine, laughi

do you

with too much detail, we should have end

oubti

th a live baby in his pocket, and going away with a dead one: the thing hardly holds wat

red at him i

earth do

ime to spare. So we worked out a little scene in a hurry ... and she really di

Hortense. "Is it possible?

to, of

t w

erybody in the district knows the d'Imbleval-Vaurois story. I was at once directed to the former midwife, Mlle. Boussignol. With Mlle. Boussignol it did not take long. Three m

incredibl

. That was why I went for it with all my might and attacked it by sheer force of eloquence. Impossible to identify the children? I deny it. Inevitable confusion? It's not true. 'You're all three,' I say, 'the victims of something which I don't know but which it is your duty to clear up!' 'That's easily d

shook h

er it, all three of

Here are three people who, from weakness or a false sense of duty, had not the courage to escape. Do you think that they won't cling like grim death to the liberty which I'm giving them? Nonsense! Why, they would have swallowed a hoax twice as difficult to digest as that which Mlle. Boussignol dished up for

about Je

aughed. "And he loves her well enough, I hope and trust, not to inflict two mothers-in-law upon her! Come, you may be easy in your mind. Your friend's happiness is assured; and that is all you asked for. All that matters is the object which we achieve and not the more or less peculiar nature of the methods whic

len

ing behind us who seem to be sayin

e talking i

k in whispers, it's alway

. Hortense listened, but in vain. As for him

the train stopped and t

s or where they're going. But I know where to find

se pro

ve me a little rest!... And oug

greatly

to waste any more time over that old story? Well, I for my part c

rtense was once more seized with a fit of giggling. Laughter alone was able to rel