Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/207

Rh means to lose a fine, mustachioed young man. But, zounds! it is not necessary to jump out of the window in order to run after him."

"For shame, doctor!" said Madame de Piennes; "the poor girl doubtless had other motives for"

"Ah! I don't know what I had," cried the sick girl; "a hundred reasons in one. In the first place, when mamma died it was a terrible blow. Then I felt myself abandoned—nobody left to care for me! Finally, somebody who was more to me than all the world—Madam, to forget even my name! yes, my name is Arsène Guillot—G, U, I, two L's; he spelled it with a Y."

"Just as I said, a faithless lover!" cried the doctor. "That is always the case. Tut, tut, my beauty, forget him. A man without a memory is unworthy of a thought." He looked at his watch. "Four o'clock?" he said, arising; "I am late for my consultation. Madam, I beg ten thousand pardons, but I must leave you; I haven't even the time to escort you home. Good-bye, my child. Calm yourself, that will amount to nothing. You will be able to dance just as well on that foot as the other. And you, nurse, have this prescription filled, and continue the same treatment as yesterday."