"At each moment the poor woman asked for him, saying continually, 'Oh! he will come! oh! he will surely come;' and yet she died, and he had not come." "Her end must have been so much the more painful." "Oh, Lord, yes; for she dreaded so much what they would do to her body." "After having been rich and happy, to die here is sad! For us, it is only a change of misery." CHAPTER XVIII. THE VISIT. "Speaking of that," resumed La Lorraine, after a moment's hesitation, "I wish you would render me a service." "Speak." "If I should die, as is probable, before you leave this, I wish you would claim my body--I have the same dread as the actress; and I have put aside the small amount of money I have left, so that I can be buried." "Do not have such ideas." "Never mind--do you promise me?" "Yes! but Lord be praised, that will not happen." "But, if it does happen, I shall not have, thanks to you, the same misfortune as the actress." "Poor lady, after having been rich, to end thus!" "The actress was not the only one in this room who has been rich, Madame Jeanne." "Call me Jeanne, as I call you La Lorraine." "You are very kind." "Who is it that has been rich besides?" "A young person not over fifteen, who was brought here last night, before you came. She was so weak that they were obliged to carry her. The sister said that this young girl and her mother were very respectable people, who had been ruined." "Her mother is also here?" "No: the mother was so very sick, that she could not be moved. The poor child would not leave her, and they profited by a fainting fit to bring her here. It was the proprietor of a wretched lodging-house who, for fear that they would die in his abode, applied for their admission." "And where is she?" "There, in the bed opposite to yours." "And only fifteen?" "At the most." "The age of my eldest daughter!" said Jeanne, unable to restrain her tears. "Pardon me," said La Lorraine, sadly, "pardon me, if I cause you pain, unintentionally, by speaking of your children. Perhaps they are sick also?" "Alas! I do not know what will become of them if I stay here more than a week." "And your husband?" After a pause, Jeanne answered, drying her tears, "Since we are friends together, La Lorraine, I can tell you my troubles, as you have told me yours--it will solace me. My husband was a good workman; he has become dissipated; he abandoned me and my children, after having sold all that we possessed; I worked hard; charitable people aided me; I began again to raise my head; I brought up my little family as well as I could, when my husband came back, with a bad woman, and again took all I had, leaving me to commence anew." "Poor Jeanne! could you not prevent that?"