"'STAY!' HE HOWLED, 'I HAVE NOT CURSED YOU YET.'"
"Stay!" he howled; "I have not cursed you yet!"
Up to this point, I had restrained myself, not daring to interfere between the father and his child; but I could endure it no longer.
"Monsieur," I exclaimed; "in the name of your own health, in the name of reason, calm yourself! Your life depends upon it!"
"What matters my life? What matters the future? Oh, if I were only done with it all!"
His excitement increased with every moment. I feared lest, crazed with passion, he might spring from the bed and destroy his own child. She, still calm, but with cheeks as pale as his, fell on her knees before the threshold. At this moment, I succeeded in getting the Count to swallow a few drops of laudanum. He fell back with a long sigh, and soon his irregular breathing gave way to deep and leaden slumber.
Odile arose, and her old governess, who had remained silent throughout, left the room with her. Sperver and I watched them as they slowly withdrew. There was a calm grandeur in the step of the Countess that bespoke a consciousness of duty fulfilled.
When she had disappeared in the shadows of the corridor, Gideon turned to me: "Well, Gaston," he said gravely; "what do you think of this?" I bowed my head without replying. The unaccountable firmness of the young woman dumbfounded me.