Page:Rachel (1887 Nina H. Kennard).djvu/219

 M. Chérie, who acted the Michonnet to her Adrienne that evenings remarked significantly to a friend as he left the theatre, "I had a niece who died of consumption. We have seen Rachel act for the last time!"

On the 19th she embarked for Havana, where she hoped to fulfil a lucrative engagement; but the doctors, much to Raphaël's disgust and to the disappointment of the Cubans; insisted on complete rest and absence from all excitement. On the 23rd December she wrote:—

Then comes the last despairing outcry, when she feels the impossibility of struggling any longer against the terrible fate that had overtaken her:—

Havana, 7th January 1855.

N'allez pas! m'a-t-on dit—et moi, je suis venue.

I am ill—very ill. My body and mind have both sunk down to nothing. I shall not be able to act at Havana either; but I have