Letters of Two Brides

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Good-bye, my love.

August 25th (her birthday).

Yesterday evening Louise was delirious for a short time; but her
delirium was the prettiest babbling, which shows that even the madness
of gifted people is not that of fools or nobodies. In a mere thread of
a voice she sang some Italian airs from _I Puritani, La Sonnambula,
Moise_, while we stood round the bed in silence. Not one of us, not
even the Duc de Rhetore, had dry eyes, so clear was it to us all that
her soul was in this fashion passing from us. She could no longer see
us! Yet she was there still in the charm of the faint melody, with its
sweetness not of this earth.

During the night the death agony began. It is now seven in the
morning, and I have just myself raised her from bed. Some flicker of
strength revived; she wished to sit by her window, and asked for
Gaston's hand. And then, my love, the sweetest spirit whom we shall
ever see on this earth departed, leaving us the empty shell.

The last sacrament had been administered the evening before, unknown
to Gaston, who was taking a snatch of sleep during this agonizing
ceremony; and after she was moved to the window, she asked me to read
her the _De Profundis_ in French, while she was thus face to face with
the lovely scene, which was her handiwork. She repeated the words
after me to herself, and pressed the hands of her husband, who knelt
on the other side of the chair.

August 26th.

My heart is broken. I have just seen her in her winding-sheet; her
face is quite pale now with purple shadows. Oh! I want my children! my
children! Bring me my children!





THE END




ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Arthez, Daniel d'
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Member for Arcis
The Secrets of a Princess

Beauseant, Marquise de
The Deserted Woman

Bianchon, Horace
Father Goriot
The Atheist's Mass
Cesar Birotteau
The Commission in Lunacy
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Secrets of a Princess
The Government Clerks
Pierrette
A Study of Woman
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Honorine
The Seamy Side of History
The Magic Skin
A Second Home
A Prince of Bohemia
The Muse of the Department
The Imaginary Mistress
The Middle Classes
Cousin Betty
The Country Parson
In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following:
Another Study of Woman
La Grande Breteche

Bridau, Joseph
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Start in Life
Modeste Mignon
Another Study of Woman
Pierre Grassou
Cousin Betty
The Member for Arcis

Bruel, Claudine Chaffaroux, Madame du
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Prince of Bohemia
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Middle Classes

Canalis, Constant-Cyr-Melchior, Baron de
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Modeste Mignon
The Magic Skin
Another Study of Woman
A Start in Life
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists
The Member for Arcis

Chaulieu, Henri, Duc de
Modeste Mignon
A Bachelor's Establishment
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Thirteen

Chaulieu, Eleonore, Duchesse de
Eugenie Grandet

Dudley, Lady Arabella
The Lily of the Valley
The Ball at Sceaux
The Magic Skin
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve

Esgrignon, Victurnien, Comte (then Marquis d')
Jealousies of a Country Town
A Man of Business
The Secrets of a Princess
Cousin Betty

Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d'
The Commission in Lunacy
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
Beatrix

Estorade, Louis, Chevalier, then Vicomte and Comte de l'
The Member for Arcis

Estorade, Madame de l'
The Member for Arcis
Ursule Mirouet

Estorade, Armand de l'
The Member for Arcis

Gaston, Louis
La Grenadiere

Gaston, Marie
La Grenadiere
The Member for Arcis

Givry
The Lily of the Valley
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Lenoncourt-Givry, Duc de
Cousin Betty
The Member for Arcis

Lenoncourt-Givry, Duchesse de
The Lily of the Valley
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Marsay, Henri de
The Thirteen
The Unconscious Humorists
Another Study of Woman
The Lily of the Valley
Father Goriot
Jealousies of a Country Town
Ursule Mirouet
A Marriage Settlement
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Ball at Sceaux
Modeste Mignon
The Secrets of a Princess
The Gondreville Mystery
A Daughter of Eve

Mary
The Member for Arcis

Maucombe, Comte de
Lost Illusions

Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de
The Secrets of a Princess
Modeste Mignon
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Muse of the Department
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
The Member for Arcis

Mirbel, Madame de
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Secrets of a Princess

Nathan, Raoul
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
The Seamy Side of History
The Muse of the Department
A Prince of Bohemia
A Man of Business
The Unconscious Humorists

Rhetore, Duc Alphonse de
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Albert Savarus
The Member for Arcis

Sallenauve, Comtesse de
The Member for Arcis

Stael-Holstein (Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker) Baronne de
The Chouans
Louis Lambert

Talleyrand-Perigord, Charles-Maurice de
The Chouans
The Gondreville Mystery
The Thirteen
Gaudissart II.

Vandenesse, Comte Felix de
The Lily of the Valley
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Cesar Birotteau
A Start in Life
The Marriage Settlement
The Secrets of a Princess
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
A Daughter of Eve

Victorine
Massimilla Doni
Lost Illusions
Gaudissart II