e a dead man. Then I turned round; my lady and
Mr. Urbain were there. 'My poor Bread,' said my lady, 'M. le Marquis is
gone.' Mr. Urbain knelt down by the bed and said softly, 'Mon pere, mon
pere.' I thought it wonderful strange, and asked my lady what in the
world had happened, and why she hadn't called me. She said nothing had
happened; that she had only been sitting there with the marquis, very
quiet. She had closed her eyes, thinking she might sleep, and she had
slept, she didn't know how long. When she woke up he was dead. 'It's
death, my son, It's death,' she said to the count. Mr. Urbain said they
must have the doctor, immediately, from Poitiers, and that he would ride
off and fetch him. He kissed his father's face, and then he kissed his
mother and went away. My lady and I stood there at the bedside. As I
looked at the poor marquis it came into my head that he was not dead,
that he was in a kind of swoon. And then my lady repeated, 'My poor
Bread, it's death, it's death;' and I said, 'Yes, my lady, it's
certainly death.' I said just the opposite to what I believed; it was my
notion. Then my lady said we must wait for the doctor, and we sat there
and waited. It was a long time; the poor marquis neither stirred nor
changed. 'I have seen death before,' said my lady, 'and it's terribly
like this.' 'Yes please, my lady,' said I; and I kept thinking. The
night wore away without the count's coming back, and my lady began to
be frightened. She was afraid he had had an accident in the dark, or met
with some wild people. At last she got so restless that she went below
to watch in the court for her son's return. I sat there alone and the
marquis never stirred."

Here Mrs. Bread paused again, and the most artistic of romancers could
not have been more effective. Newman made a movement as if he were
turning over the page of a novel. "So he WAS dead!" he exclaimed.

"Three days afterwards he was in his grave," said Mrs. Bread,
sententiously. "In a little while I went away to the front of the house
and looked out into the court, and there, before long, I saw Mr. Urbain
ride in alone. I waited a bit, to hear him come upstairs with his
mother, but they stayed below, and I went back to the marquis's room.
I went to the bed and held up the light to him, but I don't know why
I didn't let the candlestick fall. The marquis's eyes were open--open
wide! they were staring at me. I knelt down beside him and took his
hands, and begged hi