He stammered and panted for breath, in his rage, and the woman exclaimed
in a heartrending voice: "Paul, Paul, stop him; make him be quiet; do
not let him say this before my son!" Limousin had also got up, and he
said in a quite low voice: "Hold your tongue! Hold your tongue! Do
understand what you are doing!" But Parent continued furiously: "I quite
know what I am doing, and that is not all. There is one thing that I
will know, something that has tormented me for twenty years." And then
turning to George, who was leaning against a tree in consternation, he
said: "Listen to me. When she left my house, she thought it was not
enough to have deceived me, but she also wanted to drive me to despair.
You were my only consolation, and she took you with her, swearing that
I was not your father, but that he was your father! Was she lying? I do
not know, and I have been asking myself the question for the last twenty
years."

He went close up to her, tragic and terrible, and pulling away her hands
with which she had covered her face, he continued: "Well, I call upon
you now to tell me which of us two is the father of this young man; he
or I, your husband or your lover. Come! Come! tell us." Limousin rushed
at him, but Parent pushed him back, and sneering in his fury, he said:
"Ah! you are brave now! You are braver than you were that day when you
ran downstairs because I was going to half murder you. Very well! If she
will not reply, tell me yourself. You ought to know as well as she. Tell
me, are you this young fellow's father? Come! Come! Tell me!"

Then he turned to his wife again: "If you will not tell me, at any rate
tell your son. He is a man, now, and he has the right to know who is his
father. I do not know, and I never did know, never, never! I cannot tell
you, my boy." He seemed to be losing his senses, his voice grew shrill