The ruinous condition of
everything in and about the crumbling old chateau, to which de Sigognac
had been perfectly accustomed before he quitted it, and taken as a
matter of course, now struck him forcibly, and increased his dejection.
He saw in it the sad and inevitable decadence of his race, and said
to himself, "If these ancient walls had any pity for the last forlorn
remnant of the family they have sheltered for centuries, they would fall
in and bury me in their ruins."
When he reached the landing at the head of the stairs he took the lamp
from Pierre's hand, bade him good-night and dismissed him--not willing
that even his faithful old servant, who had cared for him ever since his
birth, should witness his overpowering emotion. He walked slowly through
the great banqueting hall, where the comedians had supped on that
memorable night, and the remembrance of that gay scene rendered the
present dreary solitude and silence more terrible than they had ever
seemed to him before. The death-like stillness was only broken by
the horrid gnawing of a rat somewhere in the wall, and the old family
portraits glared down at him reproachfully, as he passed on below them
with listless step and downcast eyes, oblivious of everything but his
own deep misery, and his yearning for his lost Isabelle.
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