"Julie . . . pardon me," murmured Létorière, falling on one of the steps of the tomb. "I have not told you all."
"Heavenly Father! . . . he is ill!" . . .
"Silence! . . . Julie . . . one last prayer . . . let me feel your lips on my forehead."
"He is going to die! he is dying! Charles! . . . Charles! Charles!" . . . cried the princess despairingly; and throwing herself on her knees by the Marquis, still so tightly enveloped in his cloak that Mlle. de Soissons sought his hand in vain.
"I have not told you . . . that the Baron of Ugeon challenged me," murmured Létorière, with a voice growing rapidly weaker.
"A relative of the Maréchale! . . . They have assassinated him! . . . traitorously assassinated him!"
"No. . . . I fought . . . this morning . . . with him . . . it was honorably conducted . . . and I received . . . in the breast . . . a wound . . . Julie . . ." added the Marquis, faintly. "I wanted to see you again. . . . Adieu! . . . This ring . . . you know . . . you will take it again. . . . Your look has followed me everywhere . . . EVEN UNTO DEATH. . . . My God! . . . pardon me! . . . I thought myself strong enough to live until to-morrow. . . . Julie . . . once more . . . Adieu." . . .
And Létorière died as he uttered this last word.
* * * * * * *
These lines are to be found in the "Souvenirs of Madame la Marquise de Créquy":