But I have one
favour to beg before I leave you; if you think that I have earned the
pearl necklace now, will you kiss me? No one ever did but you, and it
was so sweet."
"Indeed I will, and with all my heart," said Isabelle, taking the
child's thin face between her hands and kissing her warmly on her brown
cheeks, which flushed crimson under the soft caress.
"And now, good-bye!" said Chiquita, when after a few moments of silence
she had resumed her usual sang-froid. She turned quickly away, but,
catching sight of the knife she had given Isabelle, which lay upon the
dressing-table, she seized it eagerly, saying, "Give me back my knife
now; you will not need it any more," and vanished.
CHAPTER XVIII. A FAMILY PARTY
The next morning found the young Duke of Vallombreuse still living,
though his life hung by so slender a thread, that the surgeon, who
anxiously watched his every breath, feared from moment to moment that it
might break. He was a learned and skilful man, this same Maitre Laurent,
who only needed some favourable opportunity to bring him into notice and
make him as celebrated as he deserved to be. His remarkable talents and
skill had only been exercised thus far "in anima vili," among the lower
orders of society--whose living or dying was a matter of no moment
whatever.
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