to look after her?'"

"'There is only the passage between you;' he answered. 'If Mamselle
Gabrielle should be unwell, it will be very easy for you to nurse
her.'"

"He sat down to the piano, and began to play, and so I was obliged to
go. And I must say, fond as I was of Mamselle Gabrielle, it cut me to
the heart to have to go down-stairs, and air those beautiful
appartments, to put a servant in them. For that she was, the same as I
was. And moreover, I did not like her face, when I told her what the
count had been pleased to order. She first turned white, as if she had
been frightened, and then she grew scarlet; she curled her lip half
scornfully, and said: 'Very well; God will not forget me, wherever you
may please to put me!' She took over her little bed with her, and would
not put her bits of clothes in those beautiful inlaid drawers, but left
them packed in her little trunk, all ready to go. And I liked that of
her; and I kissed her, and begged her pardon in my heart, for having so
grudged her my lady's rooms. She sobbed a while on my shoulder, and I
had some little trouble in soothing her, but I laid it all upon the
fever. That night, I left my door ajar, to hear if she went quietly to
sleep; and all was quiet till about twelve o'clock. Then, all of a
sudden, I thought I heard her talking loud and angrily. I jumped out of
bed, and all the time I was feeling for my slippers, I heard her
talking on. I could not catch the words till I got into the passage,
and then I distinctly heard her say: 'I am only a poor servant-girl;
but may the walls of this castle fall upon me, and crush me, rather
than ...'

"I knocked at the door,--(which she had bolted by my advice),--and
screamed out: 'Gabrielle, child! What is the matter? Answer me, for the
love of God! Whom are you talking to?--Is the room haunted?'--No
answer. I looked through the keyhole--nothing to be seen--I went on
knocking and calling, but it was a long time before I could get a
wiselike answer. 'Mamsell Flor? is that you? what makes you come so
late?'--and presently I heard her unbolting the door.

"She stood before me in the darkness; only the snow gave a faint light
from the windows. I took her hand, and felt it trembling and ice-cold.
'What makes you come to me so late, Mamsell Flor?' she said--'Have I
been talking in my sleep? Oh! yes, I am ill; I think I am in a fever;
just feel how my limbs are shaking!' And with that, she burst out
crying. I got her