Then with a cry from her soul, in which there was more of joy than sadness, she said: “Here I am, Charles, here I am!”
She fell back upon her bed, withdrawing her two hands as she did so, and clasping them upon her breast again.
Roland and his mother rose and leaned over her. She had resumed her first position, except that her eyelids were closed and her breath extinguished. Amélie’s martyrdom was over, she was dead.
CHAPTER LV. INVULNERABLE
Amélie died during the night of Monday and Tuesday, that is to say, the 2d and 3d of June. On the evening of Thursday, the 5th of June, the Grand Opera at Paris was crowded for the second presentation of “Ossian, or the Bards.”
The great admiration which the First Consul professed for the poems of Macpherson was universally known; consequently the National Academy, as much in flattery as from literary choice, had brought out an opera, which, in spite of all exertions, did not appear until a month after General Bonaparte had left Paris to join the Army of the Reserves.
In the balcony to the left sat a lover of music who was noticeable for the deep attention he paid to the performance. During the interval between the acts, the door-keeper came to him and said in a low voice:
“Pardon me, sir, are you Sir John Tanlay?”
“I am.”