ld to quiet it.
Clementine now sought the company of Doctor Martout, she held
discussions with him and wanted to see experiments in the resuscitation
of rotifers. When she got home again, she would think a little about
Leon and a great deal about the Colonel. The project of marriage was
still entertained, but no one ventured to speak about the publication of
the bans. To the most touching endearments of her betrothed, the young
fiancee responded with disquisitions on the vital principle. Her visits
to the Renaults' house were paid less to the living than to the dead.
All the arguments they put in use to cure her of a foolish hope served
only to throw her into a profound melancholy. Her beautiful complexion
grew pale, the brilliancy of her glance died away. Undermined by a
hidden disorder, she lost the amiable vivacity which had appeared to be
the sparkling of youth and joy. The change must have been very
noticeable, for even Mlle. Sambucco, who had not a mother's eyes, was
troubled about it.

M. Martout, satisfied that this malady of the spirit would not yield to
any but a moral treatment, came to see her one morning, and said:

"My dear child, although I cannot well explain to myself the great
interest that you take in this mummy, I have done something for it and
for you. I am going to send the little piece of ear that Leon broke off
to M. Karl Nibor."

Clementine opened all her eyes.

"Don't you understand me?" continued the Doctor. "The thing is, to find
out whether the humors and tissues of the Colonel have undergone
material alterations. M. Nibor, with his microscope, will tell us the
state of things. One can rely upon him: he is an infallible genius. His
answer will tell us if it be well to proceed to the resuscitation of our
man, or whether nothing is left but to bury him."

"What!" cried the young girl. "One can tell whether a man is dead or
living, by sample?"

"Nothing more is required by Doctor Nibor. Forget your anxieties, then,
for a week. As soon as the answer comes, I will give it to you to read.
I have stimulated the curiosity of the great physiologist: he knows
absolutely nothing about the fragment I send him. But if, to suppose an
impossibility, he tells us that the piece of ear belongs to a sound
being, I will beg him to come to Fontainebleau and help us restore his
life."

This vague glimmer of hope dissipated Clementine's melancholy, and
brought back her buoyant health. She again began to s