"
I shall remember all my life the sudden change in the expression of the
face of Odile.
My solemn words of warning seemed to cause the blood to flow back to the
heart; her face became white as marble, and her large blue eyes, fixed
steadily upon mine, seemed to read into the most secret recesses of my
soul.
"Is that possible, sir?" she stammered; "upon your honour, do you declare
this? Tell me truly!"
"Yes, madam, upon my honour."
There was a long and painful silence, only broken at last by these words
in a low voice:--
"Let God's will be done!"
And with downcast eyes she withdrew.
The day after this scene, about eight in the morning, I was pacing up and
down in Hugh Lupus's tower, thinking of the count's illness, of which I
could not foretell the issue--and I was thinking too of my patients at
Fribourg, whom I might lose by too prolonged an absence--when three
discreet taps upon my door turned my thoughts into another channel.
"Come in!"
The door opened, and Marie Lagoutte stood within, dropping me a low
curtsey.
This old dame's visit put me out, and I was going to beg her to postpone
her visit, when something mysterious in her countenance caught my
attention.
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