-come and see!"

It seemed to her that there was a faint change in the patient's face;
but it was only a fancy--she had been deceived by the shadows that
played about the room, caused by the capricious flame in the grate. The
hours were creeping on, and the housekeeper, wearying at last of her
fruitless watch, dropped asleep; her head fell forward on to her breast,
her prayer-book slipped from her hands, and finally she began to snore.
But Mademoiselle Marguerite did not perceive this, absorbed as she was
in thoughts which, by reason of their very profundity, had ceased to
be sorrowful. Perhaps she felt she was keeping a last vigil over her
happiness, and that with the final breath of this dying man all her
girlhood's dreams and all her dearest hopes would take flight for
evermore. Undoubtedly her thoughts flew to the man to whom she had
promised her life--to Pascal, to the unfortunate fellow whose honor
was being stolen from him at that very moment, in a fashionable
gaming-house.

About five o'clock the air became so close that she felt a sudden
faintness, and opened the window to obtain a breath of fresh air. The
noise aroused Madame Leon from her slumbers. She rose, yawned, and
rather sullenly declared that she felt very queer, and would certainly
fall ill if she did not take some refreshment. It became necessary to
summon M. Casimir, who brought her a glass of Madeira and some biscuits.
"Now I feel better," she murmured, after her repast. "My excessive
sensibility will be the death of me." And so saying, she dropped asleep
again.

Mademoiselle Marguerite had meanwhile returned to her seat; but her
thoughts gradually became confused, her eyelids grew heavy, and although
she struggled, she at last fell asleep in her turn, with her head
resting on the count's bed. It was daylight when a strange and terrible
shock awoke her. It seemed to her as if an icy hand, some dead person's
hand, was gently stroking her head, and tenderly caressing her hair. She
at once sprang to her feet. The sick man had regained consciousness;
his eyes were open and his right arm was moving. Mademoiselle Marguerite
darted to the bell-rope and pulled it violently, and as a servant
appeared in answer to the summons, she cried: "Run for the physician who
lives near here--quick!--and tell him that the count is conscious."

In an instant, almost, the sick-room was full of servants, but the girl
did not perceive it. She had approached M. de Chalus