im, went on with staggering steps like a drunken man,
still whistling, but never turning back.

General Philippe de Sucy was thought in the social world to be a very
agreeable man, and above all a very gay one. A few days ago, a lady
complimented him on his good humor, and the charming equability of his
nature.

"Ah! madame," he said, "I pay dear for my liveliness in my lonely
evenings."

"Are you ever alone?" she said.

"No," he replied smiling.

If a judicious observer of human nature could have seen at that moment
the expression on the Comte de Sucy's face, he would perhaps have
shuddered.

"Why don't you marry?" said the lady, who had several daughters at
school. "You are rich, titled, and of ancient lineage; you have talents,
and a great future before you; all things smile upon you."

"Yes," he said, "but a smile kills me."

The next day the lady heard with great astonishment that Monsieur de
Sucy had blown his brains out during the night. The upper ranks of
society talked in various ways over this extraordinary event, and each
person looked for the cause of it. According to the proclivities of each
reasoner, play, love, ambition, hidden disorders, and vices, explained
the catastrophe, the last scene of a drama begun in 1812. Two men alone,
a marquis and former deputy, and an aged physician, knew that Philippe
de Sucy was one of those strong men to whom God has given the unhappy
power of issuing daily in triumph from awful combats which they fight
with an unseen monster. If, for a moment, God withdraws from such men
His all-powerful hand, they succumb.

ADDENDUM

The following personage appears in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Note: Adieu is also entitled Farewell.

Granville, Vicomte de
The Gondreville Mystery
A Second Home
Farewell (Adieu)
Cesar Birotteau
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
A Daughter of Eve
Cousin Pons

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