"But he fled when he noticed that someone saw him kissing his child!"
"He has just escaped death; and that circumstance sometimes induces salutary reflections—when one has seen the grave so near at hand!"
"Well! I place myself in your hands, chevalier; take my dear Blanche—I will remain here, and unless the count asks for me I will not venture to show myself to him; but I shall be happy once more, if, from this room, I hear my husband kiss his child."
Jarnonville took little Blanche by the hand, after she had been told not to make any noise; she seemed already to understand that she was to have a share in the cure of the gentleman who was lying there, although Bathilde had not dared to tell her to call him father.
The chevalier returned softly to the count's room. Hearing some movement in the bed, he left Blanche hidden by the curtains, and approached the invalid, who had opened his eyes and was gazing about the room as if he were trying to collect his thoughts, to marshal his recollections.
At sight of Jarnonville, Léodgard, more amazed than ever, faltered:
"What! is it you, Jarnonville? For heaven's sake, explain! What has happened?"
"You were very dangerously wounded. I found you lying on the ground, under an arcade on Place Royale."
"Oh, yes! yes! I remember—my duel—with the Marquis de Santoval.—And you had me brought here? But I recognize this chamber—it used to be mine; I am at the Hôtel de Marvejols."
"To carry you farther would have been impossible; you would have died on the way; and besides, where else would you have found the devoted, incessant care and attention with which you have been surrounded here for three weeks past?"