"Hortense, at this moment you are not a Christian. You ought to pray to God to vouchsafe repentance to this wretched woman."
"What are you talking about?" said Betty, rising from her couch. "Are you speaking of Valerie?"
"Yes," replied Adeline; "she is past hope—dying of some horrible disease of which the mere description makes one shudder——"
Lisbeth's teeth chattered, a cold sweat broke out all over her; the violence of the shock showed how passionate her attachment to Valerie had been.
"I must go there," said she.
"But the doctor forbids your going out."
"I do not care—I must go!—Poor Crevel! what a state he must be in; for he loves that woman."
"He is dying too," replied Countess Steinbock. "Ah! all our enemies are in the devil's clutches—"
"In God's hands, my child—"
Lisbeth dressed in the famous yellow Indian shawl and her black velvet bonnet, and put on her boots; in spite of her relations' remonstrances, she set out as if driven by some irresistible power.