"The wretched woman fainted away. The dying man reached his bed and
lay down again, and a few hours later sank into unconsciousness. The
priests came and administered the sacraments.

"At midnight he died; the scene that morning had exhausted his
remaining strength, and on the stroke of midnight I arrived with Daddy
Gobseck. The house was in confusion, and under cover of it we walked
up into the little salon adjoining the death-chamber. The three
children were there in tears, with two priests, who had come to watch
with the dead. Ernest came over to me, and said that his mother
desired to be alone in the Count's room.

"'Do not go in,' he said; and I admired the child for his tone and
gesture; 'she is praying there.'

"Gobseck began to laugh that soundless laugh of his, but I felt too
much touched by the feeling in Ernest's little face to join in the
miser's sardonic amusement. When Ernest saw that we moved towards the
door, he planted himself in front of it, crying out, 'Mamma, here are
some gentlemen in black who want to see you!'

"Gobseck lifted Ernest out of the way as if the child had been a
feather, and opened the door.

"What a scene it was that met our eyes! The room was in frightful
disorder; clothes and papers and rags lay tossed about in a confusion
horrible to see in the presence of Death; and there, in the midst,
stood the Countess in disheveled despair, unable to utter a word, her
eyes glittering. The Count had scarcely breathed his last before his
wife came in and forced open the drawers and the desk; the carpet was