Page:The Yellow Book - 03.djvu/272

 "To die unloved, unmourned; a woman, but no wife; no mother."

She closed her eyes again. There were noises singing in her head, louder and louder; but the pain at her heart had ceased. She was conscious only of a great loneliness, as if a curtain had risen, and shut her off from the room; and again the words came, whispered from her lips: "A woman, accursed and wasted; no mother and no wife."

But some one was speaking, speaking so loudly that the sounds in her head seemed to die away. She opened her eyes, and saw M. le Curé, where he knelt, with his eyes shining on her face, and heard his voice saying: "And God said, 'Blessed be the virgins above all women; give unto them the holy places; let them be exalted and praised by My church, before all men, and before Me. Worthy are they to sit at My feet—worthy are they above all women.

A smile of infinite happiness and of supreme relief lit up Jeanne-Marie's face.

"Above all women," she whispered: "above all women."

And Jeanne-Marie bowed her head, and died.