lowed, he said he would return
late in the evening or would send M. Leconte.

'It was Raoul who came.

'With horror he saw that the case was already grave, and a great pang
went through him as he spoke to Mme. D'Alcourt of the possibility of
its being necessary to perform tracheotomy in the morning. When morning
came--in fact, all next day--Jeanne was a little better, and the young
man hoped with a deep, longing, passionate hope.

'The day after, however, it was evident that nothing could save the
girl but the operation, and it was quickly decided to try this last
chance.

'The rest is soon told. In that supreme moment, as Raoul made ready for
the work, the two young people told all their hearts' secret to each
other in one long greeting of the eyes, that was at once a "Hail" and a
"Farewell."

'The operation was successful.

'All went well with Jeanne, and in two days she was declared
practically out of danger.

'But Raoul, unmindful of everything except Jeanne's danger, had not
been careful for himself, and had received some of the subtle poison
from her throat.'

In the cemetery of Caen, high up where the sun first strikes, can be
seen a gravestone with the inscription:

_Ci-git_

RAOUL LECONTE,

_Decede le 18 Juillet_, 1869.

* * * * *

And this is why Sister Gabrielle never married.

CHAPTER XLIII

PORTRAIT OF A FRENCH MOTHER

Madame Proquet lived in a little town in Brittany, which she had never
quitted in her life. She had been born there, she had married there,
and there it was that she had brought up her only son, Henri. When
friends said to her, 'Why not travel a little? You should at least go
and see Paris!' she would reply: 'Thank you, I am happy enough at
home.' She cared little for the outer world. Early left a widow, she
had resolved to live for her son. She had made herself his dearest
friend without effeminating him, his constant guide without
monopolizing him, and his preceptor without ceasing to be his comrade.

Before sending the boy to any school, she set to work herself and
learned enough Latin and Greek to enable her to hear his lessons; and
by the time he reached the upper forms, Madame Proquet would have been
able to cut a very fair figure beside him.

Thanks to the care and order with which she managed her small fortune,
she was well off--rich even--with her 5,000 or 6,000 francs a year, for
at the end of eac