auline (supported by Ferdinand).

Pauline
They have told me all! This woman is innocent of the crime whereof she
is accused. Religion has at last taught me that pardon cannot be
obtained on high except by those who leave it behind them here below.
I took from Madame the key of her desk, I myself sought the poison. I
myself tore off the paper to wrap it up, for I wished to die.

Gertrude
O Pauline! Take my life, take all I love--Oh, doctor, save her!

The Magistrate
Is this the truth, mademoiselle?

Pauline
The truth, yes, for the dying alone speak it--

The Magistrate
We know then actually nothing about this business.

Pauline (to Gertrude)
Do you know why I came to draw you from the abyss which had engulfed
you? It is because Ferdinand spoke to me a word which brought me back
from the tomb. He has so great a horror of being left with you in life
that he follows me, and will follow me to the grave, where we shall
rest together, wedded in death.

Gertrude
Ferdinand! Ah, my God! At what a price have I been saved!

The General
But unhappy child, wherefore must you die? Am I not, have I ceased for
one moment to be a good father? And yet they say that I am culpable.

Ferdinand
Yes, General, I alone can give the answer to the riddle, and can
explain to you your guilt.

The General
You, Ferdinand, you to whom I offered my daughter, you who loved her--

Ferdinand
My name is Ferdinand Comte de Marcandal, son of General Marcandal. Do
you understand?

The General
Ah! son of a traitor! What could you bring to my home but death and
treachery! Defend yourself!

Ferdinand
Would you fight, General, with the dead?

(Ferdinand falls.)

Gertrude (rushes to Ferdinand with a cry)
Oh! (She recoils before the General, and approaches his daughter, then
draws forth a phial, but immediately flings it away.) I will condemn
myself to live for this old man! (The General kneels beside his dying
daughter.) Doctor, what will become of him? Is he likely to lose his
reason?

The General (stammering like a man who has lost his speech)
I--I--I--

Vernon
General, what is it?

The General
I--I am trying--to pray--for my daughter!

Final curtain.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts
by Honore De Balzac

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STEPMOTHER ***

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