Has she
appeared to suffer much during the time?"
"She complained of violent headaches, dimness of sight, and intolerable
pains in her ears, she attributed all that though to megrims. Do
not, however, conceal anything from me, Herve; is her complaint very
serious?"
"So serious, my friend, so invariably fatal, that I am almost
undertaking a hopeless task in attempting a cure."
"Ah! good heaven!"
"You asked for the truth, and I have told it you. If I had that courage,
it was because you told me this poor woman is not your mother. Nothing
short of a miracle can save her; but this miracle we may hope and
prepare for. And now to work!"
CHAPTER VI.
The clock of the St. Lazare terminus was striking eleven as old Tabaret,
after shaking hands with Noel, left his house, still bewildered by what
he had just heard. Obliged to restrain himself at the time, he now fully
appreciated his liberty of action. It was with an unsteady gait that
he took his first steps in the street, like the toper, who, after being
shut up in a warm room, suddenly goes out into the open air. He was
beaming with pleasure, but at the same time felt rather giddy, from that
rapid succession of unexpected revelations, which, so he thought, had
suddenly placed him in possession of the truth.
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