Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/233

Rh self at it and began to write a note. As she was searching for a bit of sealing wax in the table drawer, some one entered the chamber precipitately, which awakened the sick girl.

"My God! What do I see?" cried Arsène in a voice so altered that Madame de Piennes trembled.

"Well, this is a pretty thing that I hear! What does it all mean? To throw herself out of the window like an imbecile! Did anybody ever see any one so foolish as this girl!"

I know not if I use the exact terms; it is at least the sense of the language used by the person who had come into the room, and who by the voice, Madame de Piennes recognised at once to be Max de Salligny. Several exclamations followed, a few suppressed cries from Arsène, and then a loud kiss. Presently Max resumed:

"Poor Arsène, in what condition do I find you? Do you know that I would never have deserted you, if Julie had told me your last address? But did any one ever see such folly!" "Oh! Salligny! Salligny! how happy I am! How sorry I am for what I have done! You will no longer find me pretty. You will not care for me any more?"

"How silly you are," said Max. "Why did you not write me that you were in need of