Camille (La Dame aux Camilias)

I waited till the hour he had named, but he did not appear. I returned

to Bougival.

The night before I had found Marguerite sad; that night I found her

feverish and agitated. On seeing me, she flung her arms around my neck,

but she cried for a long time in my arms. I questioned her as to this

sudden distress, which alarmed me by its violence. She gave me no

positive reason, but put me off with those evasions which a woman

resorts to when she will not tell the truth.

When she was a little calmed down, I told her the result of my visit,

and I showed her my father's letter, from which, I said, we might augur

well. At the sight of the letter and on hearing my comment, her tears

began to flow so copiously that I feared an attack of nerves, and,

calling Nanine, I put her to bed, where she wept without a word, but

held my hands and kissed them every moment.

I asked Nanine if, during my absence, her mistress had received any

letter or visit which could account for the state in which I found her,

but Nanine replied that no one had called and nothing had been sent.

Something, however, had occurred since the day before, something which

troubled me the more because Marguerite concealed it from me.

In the evening she seemed a little calmer, and, making me sit at the

foot of the bed, she told me many times how much she loved me. She

smiled at me, but with an effort, for in spite of herself her eyes were

veiled with tears.

I used every means to make her confess the real cause of her distress,

but she persisted in giving me nothing but vague reasons, as I have

told you. At last she fell asleep in my arms, but it was the sleep which

tires rather than rests the body. From time to time she uttered a cry,

started up, and, after assuring herself that I was beside her, made me

swear that I would always love her.

I could make nothing of these intermittent paroxysms of distress, which

went on till morning. Then Marguerite fell into a kind of stupor. She

had not slept for two nights.

Her rest was of short duration, for toward eleven she awoke, and, seeing

that I was up, she looked about her, crying: "Are you going already?"

"No," said I, holding her hands; "but I wanted to let you sleep on. It

is still early."

"What time are you going to Paris?"