He then put his hand to his mouth and said: “Why, what have you done with my teeth? You put me to sleep to fix my teeth, and you have taken them from me.”
It was curious that while he was asleep, even after he had lost his teeth, he spoke distinctly. It was evident that he could not move, and Mme. Longuet removed the clothing to rub his stiff limbs. To her sorrow she found his clothes all torn, and on looking closer saw all the flesh on his limbs lacerated. His legs and feet were boiled. The flesh was torn away in some places, and burned horribly in others. M. Eliphaste, with trembling hands, removed the clothing from his chest, and there they saw, over the heart, two spots of black blood. His biceps bore fresh marks of frightful torture.
Mme. Longuet sobbed loudly, and sat with lowered head, looking at the horrible sight. Adolphe ran to get a carriage. It was evident that Théophraste could not walk or move. On his return, Théophraste was still complaining of the pain. Adolphe, with the assistance of the carriage driver, carried him out into the street. They lifted him carefully on the mattress, and walked slowly out, followed by the weeping Marceline.
M. Eliphaste prostrated himself on the ground, and with his hands clasped and elbows on the floor, cried out with a voice full of sorrow: “My beloved! My well beloved! I believed that I was Your son. Oh, my well beloved! I have taken Thy shadow for Thy light. Thou hast crushed my pride. I am in the dark, at the bottom of an abyss-I, the man of light-and I have hated it. I am only the son of silence. Eon! Source of Eon! Oh, life! To know life! To possess life!”
And thus, as they went out into the pure air, they left him praying.
CHAPTER XXII
Visits to a Butcher’s Shop
THEOPHRASTE’S bones were not broken, and it only took six weeks to heal, although he was obliged to keep to his bed for two months, when he regained the use of his legs. During all this time he did not make a single allusion to the past. Cartouche was dead-quite dead. The operation had been successful, although very painful. So much so, that every one dreaded that he would remain a cripple to the end of his life; but he had recovered marvelously. He had obtained a new set of teeth, and was able to speak quite plainly, but it was a more difficult thing to rid himself of the effects of the boiling water in his ears, and at times he was perfectly deaf.