"He is here, Madame," said he, standing close behind her, "in the room
above there. He is somewhat better than he has been, and as strong in
his mind as ever. He has been most anxious for your arrival," and then
he led the way into the hotel, pushing aside the crowd to the right and
to the left; and within five minutes from the time of their entering the
town, the two ladies found themselves on the stairs immediately outside
the chamber in which was lying the object of all their present anxiety.
For the last four days and four nights, it had been the first and only
desire of Madame de Lescure to be with her husband; and now that she was
so near him she dreaded to open the door. "Who is with him?" said she,
speaking in a whisper, and trembling from head to foot, so that she
could hardly stand.
"The little Chevalier is with him always," said the aubergiste, who had
followed them up the stairs: "he never leaves him, now that M. Henri is
obliged to be away."
"Hadn't I better go in, perhaps," said Chapeau, "and send the Chevalier
out? I can tell M.
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