In the dining-room, her head bowed dejectedly on the table, Helene strove to stifle her sobs with her clasped hands.  The Abbe hung over her, and prayed her to restrain her emotion.  But she raised her face, streaming with tears, and bitterly accused herself.  She declared to him that she herself had killed her daughter, and a full confession escaped from her lips in a torrent of broken words.  She would never have succumbed to that man had Jeanne remained beside her.  It had been fated that she should meet him in that chamber of mystery.  God in Heaven! she ought to die with her child; she could live no longer.  The priest, terrified, sought to calm her with the promise of absolution.

But there was a ring at the bell, and a sound of voices came from the lobby.  Helene dried her tears as Rosalie made her appearance.

“Madame, it’s Dr. Deberle, who—­”

“I don’t wish him to come in.”

“He is asking after mademoiselle.”

“Tell him she is dying.”

The door had been left open, and Henri had heard everything.  Without awaiting the return of the servant girl, he walked down the stairs.  He came up every day, received the same answer, and then went away.

The visits which Helene received quite unnerved her.  The few ladies whose acquaintance she had made at the Deberles’ house deemed it their duty to tender her their sympathy.  Madame de Chermette, Madame Levasseur, Madame de Guiraud, and others also presented themselves.  They made no request to enter, but catechised Rosalie in such loud voices that they could be heard through the thin partitions.  Giving way to impatience, Helene would then receive them in the dining-room, where, without sitting down, she spoke with them very briefly.  She went about all day in her dressing-gown, careless of her attire, with her lovely hair merely gathered up and twisted into a knot.  Her eyes often closed with weariness; her face was flushed; she had a bitter taste in her mouth; her lips were clammy, and she could scarcely articulate.  When Juliette called, she could not exclude her from the bedroom, but allowed her to stay for a little while beside the bed.

“My dear,” Madame Deberle said to her one day in friendly tones, “you give way too much.  Keep up your spirits.”

Helene was about to reply, when Juliette, wishing to turn her thoughts from her grief, began to chat about the things which were occupying the gossips of Paris:  “We are certainly going to have a war.  I am in a nice state about it, as I have two cousins who will have to serve.”

In this style she would drop in upon them on returning from her rambles through Paris, her brain bursting with all the tittle-tattle collected in the course of the afternoon, and her long skirts whirling and rustling as she sailed through the stillness of the sick-room.  It was altogether futile for her to lower her voice and assume a pitiful air; her indifference peeped through all disguise; it could be seen that she was happy, quite joyous indeed, in the possession of perfect health.  Helene was very downcast in her company, her heart rent by jealous anguish.