'I have seen death before,' said my lady, 'and it's terribly
like this.' 'Yes please, my lady,' said I; and I kept thinking. The
night wore away without the count's coming back, and my lady began to
be frightened. She was afraid he had had an accident in the dark, or met
with some wild people. At last she got so restless that she went below
to watch in the court for her son's return. I sat there alone and the
marquis never stirred."
Here Mrs. Bread paused again, and the most artistic of romancers could
not have been more effective. Newman made a movement as if he were
turning over the page of a novel. "So he WAS dead!" he exclaimed.
"Three days afterwards he was in his grave," said Mrs. Bread,
sententiously. "In a little while I went away to the front of the house
and looked out into the court, and there, before long, I saw Mr. Urbain
ride in alone. I waited a bit, to hear him come upstairs with his
mother, but they stayed below, and I went back to the marquis's room.
I went to the bed and held up the light to him, but I don't know why
I didn't let the candlestick fall. The marquis's eyes were open--open
wide! they were staring at me. I knelt down beside him and took his
hands, and begged him to tell me, in the name of wonder, whether he was
alive or dead. Still he looked at me a long time, and then he made me a
sign to put my ear close to him: 'I am dead,' he said, 'I am dead.
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