After peering out at the side of the
curtain to see whether Eulalie had shut the front-door behind her;
"Flatterers know how to make themselves welcome, and to gather up the
crumbs; but have patience, have patience; our God is a jealous God, and
one fine day He will be avenged upon them!" she would declaim, with the
sidelong, insinuating glance of Joash, thinking of Athaliah alone when he
says that the
prosperity
Of wicked men runs like a torrent past,
And soon is spent.
But on this memorable afternoon, when the Cure had come as well, and by
his interminable visit had drained my aunt's strength, Francoise followed
Eulalie from the room, saying: "Mme. Octave, I will leave you to rest; you
look utterly tired out."
And my aunt answered her not a word, breathing a sigh so faint that it
seemed it must prove her last, and lying there with closed eyes, as though
already dead. But hardly had Francoise arrived downstairs, when four peals
of a bell, pulled with the utmost violence, reverberated through the
house, and my aunt, sitting erect upon her bed, called out: "Has Eulalie
gone yet? Would you believe it; I forgot to ask her whether Mme.
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