She flung herself before the couch.
“Eline, I beseech you, I beseech you, in Heaven’s name! Be calm! Rest yourself now, Eline.”
Eline, with her feverish, staring eyes, looked long at Jeanne, then she threw her arm round her neck.
“Lie down and rest yourself now, Eline; rest yourself, if you cannot sleep.”
A hollow sob burst from Eline’s throat.
“Oh, you are an angel!” she whispered in broken tones. “I shall never forget what you are doing for me, never. It is as if you have rescued me from an abyss of despair. Oh, that mud! You care for me then, Jany?”
“Yes, yes, Eline, of course I do; but rest now, rest yourself now.”
“Oh! rest myself.”
That single word ‘rest’ cut Jeanne to the quick. Eline pronounced it in a voice full of despair, as if for her there would never more be any rest. Still she allowed Jeanne to ensconce her snugly in the pillows, and emptied the glass that Jeanne offered her. [[241]]
“Thanks, thanks, Jany,” she faltered.