Volume V Part 20 (2/2)
She opened the next:
”Coone out We shall have at least one hour together I adore you”
A third:
”I have passed a night of longing and anguish I fancied you ininto my eyes And then I could have dashed ht that, at that verybeside him, at the mercy of his caresses”
Jeanne stopped in amazement What did it all mean? To ere these words of love addressed? She read on, finding in every letter the sanations, the same cautions, and, at the end, always the five words: ”Above all, burn this letter” At last she ca an invitation to dinner; it was signed ”Paul d'Ennemare” Why, that was the man of whom the baron still spoke as ”Poor old Paul,” and whose wife had been the baroness's dearest friend!
Then into Jeanne's ed to a certainty--he had been her , she threw from her all these odious letters, as she would have shaken off so to the , she wept bitterly All her strength see her face in the curtains to stifle her ony of despair She would have crouched there the whole night if the sound of so in the next room had not made her start to her feet Perhaps it was her father! And all these letters were lying on the bed and on the floor! He had only to come in and open one, and he would know all!
She seized all the old, yellow papers--her grandparents' epistles, the love letters, those she had not unfolded, those that were still lying in the drawer--and threw them all into the fireplace Then she took one of the candles which were burning on the little table, and set fire to this heap of paper A bright fla up the rooht, and casting on the white bed-curtain a dark, tree body
When there was nothing left but a heap of ashes in the bottoh now she dare not sit by the corpse The tears strea her face in her hands, she moaned out in heartbroken tones: ”Oh, poor ht cae chance, was not dead; suppose she was only in a trance-like sleep and should suddenly rise and speak! Would not the knowledge of this horrible secret lessen her, Jeanne's, love for her mother? Should she be able to kiss her with the saard her with the same esteem as before? No! She kneould be iht alht wore on; the stars were fading, and a cool breeze sprang up
Thetowards the sea over which she was shedding her silver light, and the ht she had passed at the , the night of her return from the convent, came back to Jeanne Ah! how far aas that happy ti was, and what a different future lay before her from what she had pictured then! Over the sky crept a faint, tender tinge of pink, and the brilliant dawn seelorious sunrises could illumine a world in which there was no joy or happiness
A slight sound startled her, and looking round she saw Julien
”Well, are you not very tired?” he said
”No,” she answered, feeling glad that her lonely vigil had coo and rest,” said her husband
She pressed a long sorrowful kiss on her mother's face; then left the roo to those melancholy duties that always surround a death; the baron careat deal over his wife The next day the funeral took place; Jeanne pressed her lips to the clammy forehead for the last time, drew the sheet once more over the still face, saw the coffin fastened down, and then went to await the people ere to attend the funeral
Gilberte arrived first, and threw herself into Jeanne's aran to drive up, and voices were heard in the hall The rooradually filled omen hom Jeanne was not acquainted; then the Marquise de Coutelier and the Vicomtesse de Briseville arrived, and went up to her and kissed her She suddenly perceived that Aunt Lison was in the rooave her such an affectionate embrace, that the old maid was nearly overco; he seemed very busy, and very pleased that all these people had coerand funeral; all the best fa to the ladies as he passed down the room
Aunt Lison and the Co place The co, poor darling,” and when the Comte de Fourville came to take his wife home, he wept as if he had lost his own mother
X
The next few days were very sad, as they always must be directly after a death The absence of the familiar face from its accustomed place makes the house see the dear, dead one has had in constant use, a fresh pang of sorrow darts through the heart There is the elass which thelying just as it was left for the last tiered book, the nunificant in themselves, become a source of sharp pain because they recall so vividly the loved one who has passed away And the voice rings in one's ears till it seems almost a reality, but there is no escape fro also, and all must stay and suffer with each other
In addition to her natural grief, Jeanne had to bear the pain of her discovery She was always thinking of it, and the terrible secret increased her former sense of desolation tenfold, for now she felt that she could never put her trust or confidence in anyone again
The baron soon went away, thinking to find relief froe of air and change of scene, and the household at Les Peuples resuain