La rafale
Summary
A baronne, corseted by title and trapped by treaty-vows to a husband she never chose, watches the clock devour her lover’s honour: Robert de Chaceroy, the cavalry officer of her pulse, squanders state gold at the baccarat altar, then staggers to the racetrack in a last, breathless apostasy to fortune. The horse fails; the chasm yawns. In the gas-lit corridors of Belle-Époque Paris, jewels cannot be pawned without a baronial seal, bankers smell blood, and only Jean Dupree—the pulp sensationalist who worships her like a paper relic—offers coin in exchange for flesh. One midnight signature later, she races through cobblestone rain clutching a satchel of salvation, but the river has already swallowed the only man who ever read her heartbeat like sheet music. Henri Bernstein’s scenario detonates the drawing-room melodrama from within: every door slams on a moral ambush, every candle gutters on a face that realises love is a currency more counterfeited than francs.
Synopsis
Madame la Baronne le Bourge has been forced into a marriage of convenience with Baron Le Bourge, while loving Robert de Chaceroy. In despair over her marriage, he gambles wildly, uses Government funds entrusted to his care, and loses all. He then endeavors to recoup the loss by betting on the Baron's horse, but loses there also. The Baronne learns of his distress and suggests the money lender, Bragelin. Chaceroy is unable to raise the funds by any means and sees but one honorable way out of his predicament, that of suicide. The Baronne tries to pawn her jewels, but cannot do so without her husband's consent. She tries to get money from the Baron, but on account of the huge sum involved, he becomes suspicious and in an intense scene, learns of her affair with Chaceroy. In despair she goes to Jean Dupree, a writer of sensational literature, who is infatuated with her. He offers to loan the money on one condition. The Baronne refuses the dishonorable conditions, but finally yields through her love of Chaceroy. She hastens to Chaceroy with the money, but is too late. It was necessary to have the money by six o'clock that evening. Failing, he had committed suicide.
