which stole the almost imperceptible breath--and then the mouth
became motionless, and the face assumed a great serenity of expression.

"But you must not die before me!" cried Cephyse, in a heart-rending tone,
as she covered with kisses the cold cheek. "Wait for me, sister! wait for
me!"

Mother Bunch did not answer. The head, which Cephyse let slip from her
hands, fell back gently on the mattress.

"My God. It is not my fault, if we do not die together!" cried Cephyse in
despair, as she knelt beside the couch, on which the other lay
motionless.

"Dead!" she murmured in terror. "Dead before me!--Perhaps it is that I am
the strongest. Ah! it begins--fortunately--like her, I see everything
dark-blue--I suffer--what happiness!--I can scarcely breathe. Sister!"
she added, as she threw her arms round her loved one's neck; "I am
coming--I am here!"

At the same instant the sound of footsteps and voices was heard from the
staircase. Cephyse had still presence of mind enough to distinguish the
sound. Stretched beside the body of her sister, she raised her head
hastily.

The noise approached, and a voice was heard exclaiming, not far from the
doer: "Good heavens! what a smell of fire!"

And, at the same instant, the door was violently shaken, and another
voice exclaimed: "Open! open!"

"They will come in--they will save me--and my sister is dead--Oh, no! I
will not have the baseness to survive her!"

Such was the last thought of Cephyse. Using what little strength she had
left, she ran to the window and opened it--and, at the same instant that
the half-broken door yielded to a vigorous effort from without, the
unfortunate creature precipitated herself from that third story into the
court below. Just then, Adrienne and Agricola appeared on the threshold
of the chamber. In spite of the stifling odor of the charcoal, Mdlle. de
Cardoville rushed into the garret, and, seeing the stove, she exclaimed,
"The unhappy girl has killed herself!"

"No, she has thrown herself from the window," cried Agricola: for, at the
moment of breaking open the door, he had seen a human form disappear in
that direction, and he now ran to the window.

"Oh! this is frightful!" he exclaimed, with a cry of horror, as he put
his hand before his eyes, and returned pale and terrified to Mdlle. de
Cardoville.

But, misunderstanding the cause of his terror, Adrienne, who had just
perceived Mother Bunch through the darkness, hastened to answer: "No!