He had to hold her to prevent her falling to the floor, and so he stood for some few seconds with her form limp and shivering in his arms.
Bracing himself for one last effort, Paul lifted her up and bore her out of the room. Half-dazed, he stumbled down the stairs with her until he reached the hall.
In the doorway he saw Peter, who came running forward with outstretched arms.
"Just a minute," said Paul quickly, and he walked into the room, the door of which he had shattered.
In the meantime Andrieff and the lad had picked up Madame Estelle and carried her into the same room, and now she lay on the couch, her face growing grey with the shadows of death, and her breath coming fast and feebly. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling with an intense and horrible fixity.
Paul pushed an armchair round with his foot and set his lady down on it so that her back was turned to the dying woman.
Peter fell on his knees beside the chair, and seizing his sister's hands, held them against his breast.
Paul crossed over to Madame Estelle and stood over her. He put his hand against her heart and listened to her breathing.
"I am afraid," he said in a low voice to Andrieff, "that we can do nothing for her. It is a bad business. Heaven forgive her for anything she has done amiss! She did her best to make amends."
Then he drew Alexis out of the room and told him to fetch a lamp.