I am stifling.... My breath stops in my chest and no longer reaches my throat.... I am stifling.... No, I hear the bells.... I hear the bells.... How good they sound!
Is it a dream?
An anxious face, shining eyes, lips trembling with a kiss, the beautiful loved hair with its familiar perfume.
And the gentle caress on my forehead.
Both arms close about it feverishly, as if never to let it go, on this dear being who brings with her kiss: love, life, the future.
“Oh! you! you! at last! forever!”
“Yes, Georges, yes, forever. I am here.”
And the nurse standing at the foot of the little brass bed smiles with tears in her eyes.