Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/240

162 exhortation, and ended with a peroration which redoubled the sobs of the poor girl: "You will never see him more."

The arrival of the doctor and the complete prostration of the patient reminded Madame de Piennes that she had already said enough. She pressed the hand of Arsène, and said to her in leaving:

"Be brave, my child, and God will not forsake you."

She had accomplished a duty; there remained another still more difficult. Another culprit awaited her, whose mind she must open to repentance; and in spite of the confidence which she derived from her religious zeal, in spite of the influence which she exercised over Max, and of which she already had the proof, finally, in spite of the good opinion which she conserved at the bottom of her heart for that libertine, she experienced a strange anxiety in thinking of the combat in which she was about to engage.

Before entering upon that terrible struggle, she wished to renew her strength, and entering the church, she demanded of God renewed inspiration for defending her cause.

When she reached home she was told that M. de Salligny was in the drawing-room, where he had been waiting for her for a long time. She