Seguiranne had been an idea of the doctor's, who had
learned through Aunt Dieudonne of the approaching marriage of Sophie to
a young miller of the neighborhood; and he desired to see if every
one was well and happy in this retired corner. All at once they were
refreshed by a delightful coolness as they entered the avenue of tall
green oaks. On either side the springs, the mothers of these giant shade
trees, flowed on in their eternal course. And when they reached the
house of the shrew they came, as chance would have it, upon the two
lovers, Sophie and her miller, kissing each other beside the well; for
the girl's aunt had just gone down to the lavatory behind the willows
of the Viorne. Confused, the couple stood in blushing silence. But the
doctor and his companion laughed indulgently, and the lovers, reassured,
told them that the marriage was set for St. John's Day, which was a long
way off, to be sure, but which would come all the same. Sophie, saved
from the hereditary malady, had improved in health and beauty, and was
growing as strong as one of the trees that stood with their feet in the
moist grass beside the springs, and their heads bare to the sunshine.
Ah, the vast, glowing sky, what life it breathed into all created
things! She had but one grief, and tears came to her eyes when she spoke
of her brother Valentin, who perhaps would not live through the week.
She had had news of him the day before; he was past hope. And the doctor
was obliged to prevaricate a little to console her, for he himself
expected hourly the inevitable termination. When he and his companion
left La Seguiranne they returned slowly to Plassans, touched by this
happy, healthy love saddened by the chill of death.

In the old quarter a woman whom Pascal was attending informed him that
Valentin had just died. Two of the neighbors were obliged to take away
La Guiraude, who, half-crazed, clung, shrieking, to her son's body. The
doctor entered the house, leaving Clotilde outside. At last, they again
took their way to La Souleiade in silence. Since Pascal had resumed
his visits he seemed to make them only through professional duty; he no
longer became enthusiastic about the miracles wrought by his treatment.
But as far as Valentin's death was concerned, he was surprised that
it had not occurred before; he was convinced that he had prolonged
the patient's life for at least a year. In spite of the extraordinary
results which he had obtained at first,