ld nurse is
with them and she shakes her head, and the doctor sees with anxiety that
the sickness has reached its last stage, and holds his hat in one hand
and with the other makes a sign to the relations, as if to say to them:
"I have no more visits to make here." Amid the solemn silence of the
room is heard the dull rustling of a snow-storm which beats upon the
shutters. For fear that the eyes of the dying woman might be dazzled by
the light, the youngest of the heirs had fitted a shade to the candle
which stood near that bed so that the circle of light scarcely reached
the pillow of the deathbed, from which the sallow countenance of the
sick woman stood out like a figure of Christ imperfectly gilded and
fixed upon a cross of tarnished silver. The flickering rays shed by the
blue flames of a crackling fire were therefore the sole light of this
sombre chamber, where the denouement of a drama was just ending. A
log suddenly rolled from the fire onto the floor, as if presaging some
catastrophe. At the sound of it the sick woman quickly rose to a sitting
posture. She opened two eyes, clear as those of a cat, and all present
eyed her in astonishment. She saw the log advance, and before any one
could check an unexpected movement which seemed prompted by a kind of
delirium, she bounded from her bed, seized the tongs and threw the coal
back into the fireplace. The nurse, the doctor, the relations rushed to
her assistance; they took the dying woman in their arms. They put her
back in bed; she laid her head upon her pillow and after a few minutes
died, keeping her eyes fixed even after her death upon that plank in the
floor which the burning brand had touched. Scarcely had the Countess Van
Ostroem expired when the three co-heirs exchanged looks of suspicion,
and thinking no more about their aunt, began to examine the mysterious
floor. As they were Belgians their calculations were as rapid as their
glances. An agreement was made by three words uttered in a low voice
that none of them should leave the chamber. A servant was sent to fetch
a carpenter. Their collateral hearts beat excitedly as they gathered
round the treasured flooring, and watched their young apprentice giving
the first blow with his chisel. The plank was cut through.

"My aunt made a sign," said the youngest of the heirs.

"No; it was merely the quivering light that made it appear so," replied
the eldest, who kept one eye on the treasure and the other on the
cor