"Pardon, madame," said La Lorraine, timidly; "for a great lady, rich and
happy as you deserve to be, this request is a very sad one; I ought not to
have made it!"

"I thank you, on the contrary, my child; it teaches me a misery of which I
was ignorant, and this knowledge shall not be fruitless. Be comforted;
although this fatal moment may be far off, when it does arrive, you may be
sure to repose in holy ground."

"Oh! thank you, madame!" cried La Lorraine. "If I might dare to ask
permission to kiss your hand."

Clemence presented her hand to the parched lips of La Lorraine.

"Oh! thank you, madame. I shall have some one to pray for and bless to the
end, with La Goualeuse, and shall be no longer sad, for after my death---"

This resignation, and the fears far beyond the grave, had painfully
affected Lady d'Harville; she whispered to the sister who came to inform
her that Miss de Fermont was completely restored, "Is the condition of this
young woman really desperate?"

"Alas! yes, madame; La Lorraine is given up; she has not perhaps, a week to
live."

Half an hour afterward, Madame d'Harville, accompanied by Saint Remy, took
with her, to her own house, the young orphan, from whom she had concealed
the death of her mother.