to
acquaint him with the good news. But, as he began to hear behind the
door the rustling of silk dresses and the hurried breathing of his two
companions, and as he already saw that the curtain screening the doorway
seemed on the point of being impatiently drawn aside, he passed round
the bed and followed the nurse into the next room. As soon as he had
disappeared the curtain was raised, and his two female companions
entered the room he had just left. The one who entered first made a
gesture to her companion, which riveted her to the spot where she stood,
close to the door, and then resolutely advanced towards the bed, drew
back the curtains along the iron rod, and threw them in thick folds
behind the head of the bed. She gazed upon the comte's pallid face;
remarked his right hand enveloped in linen whose dazzling whiteness was
emphasized by the counterpane patterned with dark leaves thrown across
the couch. She shuddered as she saw a stain of blood growing larger
and larger upon the bandages. The young man's breast was uncovered,
as though for the cool night air to assist his respiration. A narrow
bandage fastened the dressings of the wound, around which a purplish
circle of extravasated blood was gradually increasing in size. A deep
sigh broke from her lips. She leaned against one of the columns of the
bed, and gazed, through the apertures in her mask, upon the harrowing
spectacle before her. A hoarse harsh groan passed like a death-rattle
through the comte's clenched teeth. The masked lady seized his left
hand, which scorched like burning coals. But at the very moment she
placed her icy hand upon it, the action of the cold was such that De
Guiche opened his eyes, and by a look in which revived intelligence
was dawning, seemed as though struggling back again into existence. The
first thing upon which he fixed his gaze was this phantom standing erect
by his bedside. At that sight, his eyes became dilated, but without any
appearance of consciousness in them. The lady thereupon made a sign to
her companion, who had remained at the door; and in all probability the
latter had already received her lesson, for in a clear tone of
voice, and without any hesitation whatever, she pronounced these
words:--"Monsieur le comte, her royal highness Madame is desirous of
knowing how you are able to bear your wound, and to express to you, by
my lips, her great regret at seeing you suffer."

As she pronounced the word Madame, Guiche sta