Читать книгу The Mysterious Disappearance of the Chevalier Valmont онлайн | страница 21

When the long dinner was over, and coffee was served, it was already dark. The baron, who had done justice to all twelve courses, was now fiercely battling his own drowsiness. After he had given a few loud snores and nearly fallen off his chair, the baroness told the butler to take her husband up to his bedroom.

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“I would be glad to keep you company,” Valmont answered.

be over do justice to sthcoursefiercelybattledrowsinessnot at allkeep sb company

“I have noticed how little you ate at dinner,” said the baroness as they walked along the dimly lit garden path.

“I usually eat very little. Gluttony does not figure on the list of my sins.”

“Have you sinned much?”

“Perhaps not as much as noble ladies and gentlemen at the Court of His Majesty Mouse XXV (read: Mouse the Twenty-Fifth), but then, I’ve had fewer opportunities.

“You’re not being serious, are you?”

“I’m dead serious.”

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“Have you killed? You don’t need to answer this question if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, I don’t mind telling you. Yes, I have killed. But only in battle, and only when I knew that my own life was in danger. I beg your pardon, but why are you asking such things? Do you want to hire me as an assassin?”

“What a strange thing to say!”

“How so? Or don’t they hire killers to dispose of a rival anymore?”

“You don’t need to hire a killer to do away with a rival. There are so many other ways to get rid of an enemy.”

“Like breaking your rival’s heart by stealing from her someone she loves? Or, perhaps, by driving her to suicide?”

I don’t mindbattleI beg your pardon. hireasassassinHowsodisposeofsbrivaldoawaywithsbgetridofsbenemybreaksb’sheartstealsuicide◊drivesbtosuicide

At these last words, the baroness grew pale. But Valmont didn’t seem to notice.

“You think this is less painful?” he continued. “If you ask me, it is better to die by the hand of a killer than go through the ordeal of being betrayed by someone you loved.”

“You speak as if you have gone through such an ordeal,” the baroness said in a trembling voice.