was to do with this man; but at any rate she meant to annihilate him
socially. On the evening of the third day she felt that in spite of
her efforts she could not conceal her uneasiness as to the results of
her manoeuvres. To give herself a minute's reprieve she went up to her
room, sat down before her writing-table, and laid aside the mask of
composure which she wore in Chabert's presence, like an actress who,
returning to her dressing-room after a fatiguing fifth act, drops half
dead, leaving with the audience an image of herself which she no
longer resembles. She proceeded to finish a letter she had begun to
Delbecq, whom she desired to go in her name and demand of Derville the
deeds relating to Colonel Chabert, to copy them, and to come to her at
once to Groslay. She had hardly finished when she heard the Colonel's
step in the passage; uneasy at her absence, he had come to look for
her.

"Alas!" she exclaimed, "I wish I were dead! My position is
intolerable . . ."

"Why, what is the matter?" asked the good man.

"Nothing, nothing!" she replied.

She rose, left the Colonel, and went down to speak privately to her
maid, whom she sent off to Paris, impressing on her that she was
herself to deliver to Delbecq the letter just written, and to bring it
back to the writer as soon as he had read it. Then the Countess went
out to sit on a bench sufficiently in sight for the Colonel to join
her as soon as he might choose. The Colonel, who was looking for her,
hastened up and sat down by her.