"But--"

"Oh, leave me!"

She lay down full length on her bed. A bitter taste that she felt in her

mouth awakened her. She saw Charles, and again closed her eyes.

She was studying herself curiously, to see if she were not suffering.

But no! nothing as yet. She heard the ticking of the clock, the

crackling of the fire, and Charles breathing as he stood upright by her

bed.

"Ah! it is but a little thing, death!" she thought. "I shall fall asleep

and all will be over."

She drank a mouthful of water and turned to the wall. The frightful

taste of ink continued.

"I am thirsty; oh! so thirsty," she sighed.

"What is it?" said Charles, who was handing her a glass.

"It is nothing! Open the window; I am choking."

She was seized with a sickness so sudden that she had hardly time to

draw out her handkerchief from under the pillow.

"Take it away," she said quickly; "throw it away."

He spoke to her; she did not answer. She lay motionless, afraid that

the slightest movement might make her vomit. But she felt an icy cold

creeping from her feet to her heart.

"Ah! it is beginning," she murmured.

"What did you say?"

She turned her head from side to side with a gentle movement full of

agony, while constantly opening her mouth as if something very heavy

were weighing upon her tongue. At eight o'clock the vomiting began

again.

Charles noticed that at the bottom of the basin there was a sort of

white sediment sticking to the sides of the porcelain.

"This is extraordinary--very singular," he repeated.

But she said in a firm voice, "No, you are mistaken."

Then gently, and almost as caressing her, he passed his hand over her

stomach. She uttered a sharp cry. He fell back terror-stricken.

Then she began to groan, faintly at first. Her shoulders were shaken by

a strong shuddering, and she was growing paler than the sheets in which

her clenched fingers buried themselves. Her unequal pulse was now almost

imperceptible.

Drops of sweat oozed from her bluish face, that seemed as if rigid in

the exhalations of a metallic vapour. Her teeth chattered, her dilated

eyes looked vaguely about her, and to all questions she replied only

with a shake of the head; she even smiled once or twice. Gradually, her

moaning grew louder; a hollow shriek burst from her; she pretended she

was better and that she would get up presently. But she was seized with

convulsions and cried out-"Ah! my God! It is horrible!"




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