her places;
and it was at Genoa that one morning, on opening a drawer, Bertha came
upon an oblong box, the sight of which made her start backward and put
her hand to her beating side. M. Villefort approached her hurriedly. An
instant later, however, he started also and shut the drawer.

"Come away," he said, taking her hand gently. "Do not remain here."

But he was pale, too, and his hand was unsteady. He led her to the
window and made her sit down.

"Pardon me," he said. "I should not have left them there."

"You did not send them to your friend?" she faltered.

"No."

He stood for a moment or so, and looked out of the window at the blue
sea which melted into the blue sky, at the blue sky which bent itself
into the blue sea, at the white sails flecking the deep azure, at the
waves hurrying in to break upon the sand.

"That"--he said at length, tremulously, and with pale lips--"that was
false."

"Was false!" she echoed.

"Yes," hoarsely, "it was false. There was no such friend. It was a
lie--they were meant only for myself."

She uttered a low cry of anguish and dread.

"Ah, _mon Dieu!_" he said. "You could not know. I understood all, and
had been silent. I was nothing--a jest--'_le Monsieur de la petite
Dame_,' as they said,--only that. I swore that I would save you. When I
bade you adieu that night, I thought it was my last farewell. There was
no accident. Yes--there was one. I did not die, as I had intended. My
hand was not steady enough. And since then----"

She rose up, crying out to him as she had done on that terrible night--

"Arthur! Arthur!"

He came closer to her.

"Is it true," he said,--"is it true that my prayers have not been
in vain? Is it true that at last--at last, you have learned--have
learned----"

She stretched forth her arms to him.

"It is true!" she cried. "Yes, it is true!--it is true!"

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of "Le Monsieur De La Petite Dame", by
Frances Hodgson Burnett

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "LE MONSIEUR DE LA PETITE DAME" ***

***** This file should be named 23329.txt or 23329.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/3/2/23329/

Produced by David Widger

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these work