"Ah! monsieur," replied the servant, in a whisper, "it is what takes my breath away. If you only knew!"
"Well, finish, what is it?"
"Master is dead!"
At these words the doctor stepped back, forgot Marie, stood petrified, and looked at the servant, unable to utter a word.
David experienced such a violent commotion of feeling that he was obliged to lean against the wainscoting.
Frederick, holding his mother in his arms, turned abruptly toward Marguerite, murmuring:
"Oh, my God! Dead—dead—my father!"
And he hid his face in his mother's bosom.
Marie, although in a swoon, caused by complete prostration of her strength, was sufficiently conscious to hear.
Marguerite's words, "Master is dead," reached her ears, but dimly and vague as the thought of a dream.