During this time, Ligny, lying moodily against the wall, was grumbling:

"As you will, but, if you catch a cold, so much the worse for you!"

She glided back into bed. At first he remained somewhat resentful; but
she wrapped him about with the delicious freshness of her body.

When they came to themselves they were surprised to see by one of their
watches that it was seven o'clock.

Ligny lit the lamp, a paraffin lamp, supported on a column, with a
cut-glass container inside which the wick was curled up like a
tape-worm. Felicie was very quick in dressing herself. They had to
descend one floor by a wooden staircase, dark and narrow. He went ahead,
carrying the lamp, and halted in the passage.

"You go out, darling, before I put the lamp out."

She opened the door, and immediately recoiled with a loud shriek. She
had seen Chevalier standing on the outer steps, with arms extended,
tall, black, erect as a crucifix. His hand grasped a revolver. The glint
of the weapon was not perceptible; nevertheless she saw it quite
distinctly.

"What's the matter?" demanded Ligny, who was turning down the wick of
the lamp.

"Listen, but don't come near me!" cried Chevalier in a loud voice. "I
forbid you to belong to one another. This is my dying wish. Good-bye,
Felicie."

And he slipped the barrel of the revolver into his mouth.

Crouching against the passage wall, she closed her eyes. When she
reopened them, Chevalier was lying on his side, across the doorway. His
eyes were wide open, and he seemed to be gazing at them with a smile. A
thread of blood was trickling from his mouth over the flagstones of the
porch. A convulsive tremor shook his arm. Then he ceased to move. As he
lay there, huddled up; he seemed smaller than usual.

On hearing the report of the revolver, Ligny had hurriedly come forward.
In the darkness of the night he raised the body, and immediately
lowering it gently to the ground he attempted to strike matches, which
the wind promptly extinguished. At last, by the flare of one of the
matches, he saw that the bullet had carried away part of the skull, that
the meninges were laid bare over an area as large as the palm of the
hand; this area was grey, oozing blood, and very irregular in shape, its
outlines reminding Ligny of the map of Africa. He was conscious of a
sudden feeling of respect in the presence of this dead man. Placing his
hands under the armpits, he dragged Chevalier with the minutest
precauti