Volume V Part 24 (1/2)
Directly it had dashed upon the rocks at the bottoan to ht to the shattered hut, but, like the cautious rustic that he ent to announce the accident at the nearest farar pointed out, and beneath the fragled corpses The man's forehead was split open, and his face crushed; the woman's jaas almost separated from her head, and their broken limbs were as soft as if there had not been a bone beneath the flesh Still the faran to make all sorts of conjectures as to the cause of the accident
”What could they have been doin' in the cabin?” said a woar replied that apparently they had taken refuge froh wind had overturned the hut, and blown it down the precipice He added that he hi to take shelter in it when he saw the horses fastened to the shafts and concluded that the place was already occupied
”If it hadn't been for that I should have been where they are now,” he said with an air of self-congratulation
”Perhaps it would have been all the better if you had been,” said some one
”Why would it have been better?” exclaie
”'Cause I' to the two corpses with his hooked stick, as he stood tre fro unke him look terribly dirty and roup had grown bigger, and the peasants stood round with a frightened, cowardly look on their faces After a discussion as to what they had better do, it was finally decided to carry the bodies back to their hoot ready, and then a fresh difficulty arose; soh to place straw at the bottoht it would look better to put mattresses
”But the mattresses would be soaked with blood,” cried the woman who had spoken before ”They'd have to be washed with _eau de javelle_”
”The chateau people'll pay for that,” said a jolly-faced far”
That decided the ht, the other to the left, jolting and shaking the res who had so often been clasped in each other's arain
When the comte had seen the hut set off on its terrible journey, he had fled away through the rain and the wind, and had run on and on across the country like a madman He ran for several hours, heedless of which way his steps were taking hihtfall, he found hi his return, and hastened to tell him that the two horses had just returned riderless, for Julien's had followed the other one
M de Fourville staggered back ”Some accident must have happened to my wife and the vicoo and look for theoing to seek theht, he hid behind a bush, and watched the road along which the wo, or perhaps ured for life In a little while a cart passed by, bearing a strange load; it drew up before the chateau-gates, then passed through the the horrible truth forced hi-place, and he crouched down like a hare, tre at the faintest rustle
He waited for an hour--perhaps two--and yet the cart did not co, and the thought of seeing her, ofher eyes was such a torture to hi discovered and co, and did not stop till he was hidden in the ht that perhaps she needed help and that there was no one to take care of her as he could, and he sped back in ardener
”Well?” he cried, excitedly
The man dared not answer the truth
”Is she dead?” almost yelled M de Fourville
”Yes, Monsieur le comte,” stammered the servant
The coitation left him, and he went quietly and firmly up the steps
In the meantime, the other cart had arrived at Les Peuples Jeanne saw it in the distance, and guessing that a corpse lay upon the mattress, understood at once what had happened; the shock was so great that she fell to the ground unconscious When she ca her head, and bathing her forehead with vinegar
”Do you know--?” he asked hesitatingly
”Yes, father,” she whispered, trying to rise; but she was in such pain that she was forced to sink back again
That evening she gave birth to a dead child--a girl
She did not see or hear anything of Julien's funeral, for she was delirious when he was buried In a few days she was conscious of Aunt Lison's presence in her roohtmares by which she was haunted, she strove to recall when, and under what circumstances, the old maid had last left Les Peuples But even in her lucid moments she could not remember, and she could only feel sure she had seen her since the baroness's death