Would you believe it, that that Anne had
the face to say to madame she had better look in the bureau to see
if her money and jewels were safe. 'Silence, wretch!' cried Madame
la Comtesse, so that the windows rattled, and gave the person a look
that made her double up like a penknife. She does not come from
Carpentras. To make a long story short, none of us went to bed that
night. Madame took it into her head you might have gone for a little
walk in the middle of the night, and would come back. Good idea,
wasn't it? But when the morning came, she saw that the bird had
really flown, and that changed the whole affair. She took to her
bed, and stayed there for five days with the room all darkened, ate
nothing, drank nothing, was delirious, had four doctors called in
each at fifty francs the visit, beside priests and nuns, and Madame
la Marquise, her mamma, got three telegrams, one longer than the
other, and arrived here the day before yesterday, and now they are
trying which can cry the most. But the daughter has the best of it.
Since she had her mamma with her, madame seems calmer. She got up
yesterday for the first time, and--not to keep back anything from
you--I have great hopes that in a fortnight or three weeks' time we
shall see her going to balls again.
Pages:
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541