His face was transformed--a smile came upon it that was ineffable--the
light blazed up, and then quivered and flickered in his eyes like a
dying flame. All this time he was leaning his weight upon my arm. Then
suddenly he loosed his hold of me, stretched out his hands, stood up,
and--died. My God! shall I ever forget him as he stood--his head raised,
his hands held out, his lips moving, the eyelids opened wide with a
quiver, the light flickering and dying He died first, standing up,
saying something with his pale lips--then fell. And it seemed to me all
at once, and for a moment, that I heard a sound of many people marching
past, the murmur and hum of a great multitude; and softly, softly I was
put out of the way, and a voice said, '_Adieu, ma soeur_.' '_Ma soeur_!'
who called me '_Ma soeur_'? I have no sister. I cried out, saying I know
not what. They told me after that I wept and wrung my hands, and said,
'Not thee, not thee, Marie!' But after that I knew no more.


THE NARRATIVE of MADAME VEUVE DUPIN (_née_ LEPELLETIER).

To complete the _procés verbal_, my son wishes me to give my account of
the things which happened out of Semur during its miraculous occupation,
as it is his desire, in the interests of truth, that nothing should be
left out. In this I find a great difficulty for many reasons; in the
first place, because I have not the aptitude of expressing myself in
writing, and it may well be that the phrases I employ may fail in the
correctness which good French requires; and again, because it is my
misfortune not to agree in all points with my Martin, though I am proud
to think that he is, in every relation of life, so good a man, that the
women of his family need not hesitate to follow his advice--but
necessarily there are some points which one reserves; and I cannot but
feel the closeness of the connection between the late remarkable