There is nothing the matter ... Mamma.... Nothing, I assure you.
(Lionnette on her knees, with Raoul's head on her breast, kissing him with rapture, sobbing without power to stop herself).
Richard (near her).
Saved! You are saved!
Lionnette (with sobs, tremulously accentuating every word).
Yes, yes, yes, saved! (To Richard.) Ah! I was mad.... I was mad.... But when that man laid his hand on my child, it is awful what took possession of me! I do not know how it was I did not kill him. What is the use of a man struggling with a mother? For I am a mother. I am.... Oh! I felt it truly, from my heart, that that could never be. Richard, you guessed rightly; yes. Right-minded people guess rightly!... They want my father's letters; very well, they shall have them. You shall sell everything; you shall pay—you must give that man back his money;—there will be an end to it all. Go, and find my husband. (Richard goes away.) I want to see him before I die, for I am going to die, I feel it.
(She lets her head fall upon the couch, and half loses consciousness.)
Raoul (jumping upon the couch, taking his mother's head in his arms, and kissing it.)
Mamma, mamma, mamma ... do not die, I beseech you.
Lionnette (recovering consciousness).