The arms and the head of the old man fell back inert and lifeless under Gabriel's caressing hands.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE COMTE DE MONTGOMMERY
Gabriel, still kneeling beside the lifeless mass, raised his pale, bewildered countenance, and cast a glance of ominous tranquillity around him. He seemed to be questioning himself and pondering deeply; and his almost unnatural calm touched and alarmed Monsieur de Sazerac more than all the outcry and sobbing in the world would have done.
Suddenly, as if the idea that life might not be extinct had just occurred to him, he hurriedly placed his hand over the heart of the corpse.
For a moment or two he felt and listened eagerly.
"Nothing!" he then said in a firm but gentle voice, which was terrible for those very qualities; "nothing!—the heart no longer beats, but the flesh is still warm."
"What a marvellously strong constitution!" the governor muttered; "he might have lived for a long time to come."
All this time the eyes had remained open. Gabriel leaned over and closed them with reverent touch. Then he imprinted a respectful and loving kiss, the first and the last, upon the poor wasted lids, which had been wet with so many bitter tears.
"Monsieur," observed Monsieur de Sazerac, hoping to divert Gabriel from his terrifying contemplation of the inert body before him, "if the deceased was dear to you—"