He quitted me in the month of May," said she to me; "in the
month of May I shall quit life." "That time is come, and Marie is no
more."--"Tell us her whole history," exclaimed two or three of the
listeners, at once. Isabelle consented; they were crowding round her,
and Henri was approaching nearer, and redoubling his attention, when
the funeral bell tolled drearily and solemnly. He started, and Isabelle
said, with a sigh, "I must tell you my dear friend's story another time;
we must now accompany her remains to their last sad home, and place
these flowers upon her coffin."
They walked on mournfully, two and two, and Henri followed them with an
interest that he could not account for, or define. The coffin advanced,
preceded by the priests, bearing torches that were obscured by the
silvery light of the moon; it was carried by six men, and among them it
was easy to recognise Guillaume, by his profound sorrow; for, to Henri's
great surprise, he alone wept. The more aged men who followed the
corpse, the one even next it, and who, of course, was the father, or
nearest relative of the deceased, had, like the rest, merely a composed
and serious countenance, undisfigured by any great affliction.
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