t was a burning hot afternoon, and Daniel had now been an invalid for
seven weeks. Lefloch raised him on his pillows, stowed him away, as he
called it; and the surgeon handed him his letters.

Daniel uttered a cry of delight.

At the first glance he had recognized on three of the envelopes
Henrietta's handwriting. He kissed them, and said,--

"At last she writes!"

The shock was so violent, that the doctor was almost frightened.

"Be calm, my dear friend," he said. "Be calm! Be a man, forsooth!"

But Daniel only smiled, and replied,--

"Never mind me, doctor; you know joy is never dangerous; and nothing but
joy can come to me from her who writes to me. However, just see how calm
I am!"

So calm, that he did not even take the time to see which was the oldest
of his letters.

He opened one of them at haphazard, and read:--

"Daniel, my dear Daniel, my only friend in this world, and my sole hope,
how could you intrust me to such an infamous person? How could you hand
over your poor Henrietta to such a wretch? This Maxime de Brevan, this
scoundrel, whom you considered your friend, if you knew"--

This was the long letter written by Henrietta the day after M. de Brevan
had declared to her that he loved her, and that sooner or later, whether
she chose or not, she should be his, giving her the choice between the
horrors of starvation and the disgrace of becoming his wife.

As Daniel went on reading, a deadly pallor was spreading over his face,
pale as it was already; his eyes grew unnaturally large; and big drops
of perspiration trickled down his temples. A nervous trembling seized
him, so violent, that it made his teeth rattle; sobs rose from his
chest; and a pinkish foam appeared on his discolored lips. At last he
reached the concluding lines,--

"Now," the young girl wrote, "since, probably, none of my letters have
reached you, they must have been intercepted. This one will reach you;
for I am going to carry it to the post-office myself. For God's
sake, Daniel, return! Come back quick, if you wish to save, not your
Henrietta's honor, for I shall know how to die, but your Henrietta's
life!"

Then the surgeon and the sailor witnessed a frightful sight.

This man, who but just now had not been able to raise himself on his
pillows; this unfortunate sufferer, who looked more like a skeleton
than a human being; this wounded man, who had scarcely his breath left
him,--threw back his blankets, and rushed t