and white as the sheet which covered her, resembled Juliet sleeping in her tomb; Aline, rosy, vivacious, and more petulant than usual, looked very much the madcap Mademoiselle de Corandeuil had reproached her with being.  Her face was full of that still childish grace, more lovely than calm, more pleasing than impressive, which makes young girls so charming to the eye but less eloquent to the heart; for are they not fresh flowers more rich in coloring than in perfume?

Clemence could hardly stifle a sigh as she gazed at those rosy checks, those sparkling eyes, that life so full of the rich future.  She recalled a time when she was thus, when grief glided over her cheeks without paling them, when tears dried as they left her eyes; she also had had her happy, careless days, her dreams of unalloyed bliss.

Aline, after presenting her face like a child who asks for a kiss, wished to tease her as usual, but, with a tired gesture, her sister-in-law begged for mercy.

“Are you ill?” asked the young girl anxiously, as she seated herself upon the edge of the bed.

Madame de Bergenheim smiled, a forced smile.

“Thank me for my poor health,” said she, “for it obliges you to do the honors; I shall doubtless not be able to go down to dinner, and you must take my place.  You know that it tires my aunt to have to trouble herself about others.”

Aline made a little grimace as she replied: 

“If I thought you were speaking seriously, I would go and get into my own bed at once!”

“Child! will you not in your turn be mistress of a home?  Is it not necessary for you to become accustomed to it?  It is an excellent opportunity, and, with my aunt as a guide, you are sure to acquit yourself well.”

These last words were spoken rather maliciously, for the young woman knew that of all the possible mentors, Mademoiselle de Corandeuil was the one whom Aline dreaded most.

“I beg of you, my kind sister,” replied the girl, clasping her hands, “do not be ill to-day.  Is it the neuralgia of the day before yesterday you are suffering from?  Do be a good sister, and get up and come and take a walk in the park; the fresh air will cure you, I am sure of it.”

“And I shall not be obliged to preside at the dinner-table, you would add; is it not so?  You selfish girl!”

“I am afraid of Monsieur de Gerfaut,” said the child, lowering her voice.

When she heard pronounced this name, so deeply agitating her, Madame de Bergenheim was silent for a moment; at last she said: 

“What has Monsieur de Gerfaut done to you?  Is it not downright ungrateful to be afraid of him so soon after the service he has rendered you?”

“No, I am not ungrateful,” replied the young girl quickly.  “I never shall forget that I owe my life to him, for certainly, but for him, I should have been dragged into the river.  But he has such black, piercing eyes that they seem to look into your very soul; and then, he is such a brilliant man!  I am all the time afraid of saying something that he may laugh at.  You know, some people think I talk too much; but I shall never dare open my mouth in his presence.  Why do some persons’ eyes make such an impression upon one?”