The distorted features of David, his glowing eyes, red with recent tears, the inflection of his voice, betrayed at the same time so much despair and so much love, that Doctor Dufour, although himself under the power of violent emotion, stopped short at the sight of his friend, and gazed at him some moments before replying to him.
"Pierre, you tell me nothing, nothing!" cried David, distracted with grief. "Is she dying, then?"
"No, Henri, she is not dying."
"She will live!" cried David.
At this hope, his face became transfigured; he pressed the physician to his breast, as he murmured, unable to restrain his tears:
"I shall owe you more than life, Pierre."
"Henri," replied the doctor, with a sigh, "I have not said that she would live."
"You fear?"
"Very much."
"Oh, my God! but at least you hope?"