Armand

he held out his

temperatur

g? the fatigue of a hurri

from Margueri

ho told

d did you get wh

you about my journey and m

ner at the

w the g

p of the same distress I had already witnessed, and that every time his thoughts or something that someone said brought

fore for answer

od care of it?'

d he turned his head away to hide them from me. I pre

away three we

hand over his ey

weeks e

long journ

Otherwise I would have been back long ago; but I'd only just arriv

again without b

week in that place, I w

lf. Your friends will call to see you. And I sha

urs I shal

s most

mus

u to do that'

pay on the superin

o a matter that may well make y

annot conceive that the woman I left so young and beautiful can really be dead. I must check for myself. I have to see what God has done with a being I loved so very mu

her sister

h to buy a burial plot and have a headstone put up to Margueri

you are properly fit before

s become part of my grief. I swear to you that I shall not rest easy until I've seen Marguerite. It may be a craving of the fever which burns in me, a dream born of s

rmand, 'and you have my complete s

e day I got back, the

papers which Margueri

're h

rs from beneath his pillow,

m ten times each day. You shall read them too, but later, when I'm calmer and can make you underst

t is

carriage d

es

restante? My father and my sister must have written to me here in Paris, and I left in such a hurry that I didn't take tim

rt and I went round to the

the name of Duval. I pic

mand was fully dresse

r glancing at the addresses, 'yes, they are from my father and m

n read their contents, for each was four pages l

he said, 'I'll

police, and Armand handed over Marg

t the transfer of the remains should take place the following day at ten in the morning, that I

t at the spectacle, and I conf

h assailed me, it must have

ine the following morning, he was

me and held o

picked up a very thick letter, addressed to his father, whic

ater, we were

ent was already

guerite's grave. The superintendent led the wa

s had suddenly coursed through him. When this happened, I would look at him; he understood my lo

ve to wipe his face which was stream

my breath, for I myself felt as though

ind? By the time we reached the grave, the gardener had taken the pots of flower

against a tree

eemed to be concentrate

f the picks gra

rom an electric shock, and he grasped my

ied the grave; when there remained only the stones which are

get the better of him at any moment; but he went on watching, his eyes fixed and staring like a madman

ay only one thing: that

ly exposed, the superintende

n it

h it were the most ordin

e dampness of the earth had rusted the screws, and it was not without considerable effort that the

Armand murmured, and h

s themselves ste

its misshapen contours. This shroud had been completely eaten awa

as I write these lines, the memory of this sce

th it, ' said th

began unstitching the shroud and, seizing it b

behold and it is

dry, black hair was stuck over the temples and partly veiled the green hollows of the cheeks,

her countenance, had put his handkerch

eyes, my ears were filled with buzzing noises, and it was as much as I could manage to open a smal

ss, I heard the superintend

dentify t

young man an

and take it away, ' th

oman's face, closed up the coffin, took one end each and

mpty grave: he was as pale as the corpse which we h

is scene, his grief subsided and would con

o the super

, ' I said, gesturing towards Arma

rongly advise you to take him aw

to Armand, takin

ing at me as though he

y, my friend. You look pale, you're cold,

he replied mechanically, bu

y the arm and d

ff like a little child, merely

see the

though the sight of the

ing without staggering; his teeth chattered, his hands were cold

him; he did

ld do to allow h

found a cab. And

onger, and he had a severe nervous seizure. Through it, his

othing, I simply

, and the blood rushed to his eye

had helped me and, by the time we reached his apa

rge fire to be lit in his bedroom, and hurried off to fetch

me at

tammering disconnected words through which only

he doctor when he had

t otherwise, God forgive me, he would have gone mad. Fortunately, his physical sickness will drive

b