“Father, it is us; do you know us?” asked Clotilde.
Monsieur Vabre looked at her fixedly; then his lips moved, but not a sound came from them. They were all pushing one another, wishing to secure his last word. Valérie, who found herself right at the rear, and obliged therefore to stand on tip-toe, said, harshly:
“You are stifling him. Do move away from him. If he desired anything, no one would be able to know.”
The others had to draw on one side. And Monsieur Vabre’s eyes were indeed looking round the room.
“He wants something, that is certain,” murmured Berthe.
“Here’s Gustave,” said Clotilde. “You see him, do you not? He has come expressly from school to embrace you. Kiss your grandfather, my child.”
As the youngster drew back, frightened, she kept him there with her arm, whilst she waited a smile on the dying man’s distorted features. But Auguste, who had been watching his eyes, declared that he was looking at the table; no doubt he wished to write. This caused quite a shock. All tried to be first. They brought the table to the bedside, and fetched some paper, an inkstand, and a pen. Then they raised him, propping him up with three pillows. The doctor gave his consent to all this with a simple blink of the eyes.
“Give him the pen,” said Clotilde, quivering, and without leaving go of Gustave, whom she continued to hold toward him.
Then came a solemn moment. The relations, pressed round the bed, awaited anxiously. Monsieur Vabre, who did not appear to recognize any one, had let the penholder drop from his fingers. For a moment his eyes wandered over the table, on which was the oak box full of tickets. Then, slipping from off his pillows, and falling forward like a piece of rag, he stretched out his arm in a final effort, and, plunging his hand among the tickets, he dabbled about in the happy manner of a baby playing with something dirty. He brightened up, and wished to speak, but he could only lisp one syllable, ever the same, one of those syllables into which brats in swaddling-clothes put a whole host of sensations.
“Ga—ga—ga—ga——-”