"There is nothing left!" said Lisbeth in consternation. "I cannot recognize her eyes or her mouth! Not a feature of her is there! And her wit has deserted her! Oh, it is awful!" "You don't know," said Valerie, "what death is; what it is to be obliged to think of the morrow of your last day on earth, and of what is to be found in the grave.--Worms for the body--and for the soul, what?--Lisbeth, I know there is another life! And I am given over to terrors which prevent my feeling the pangs of my decomposing body.--I, who could laugh at a saint, and say to Crevel that the vengeance of God took every form of disaster.--Well, I was a true prophet.--Do not trifle with sacred things, Lisbeth; if you love me, repent as I do." "I!" said Lisbeth. "I see vengeance wherever I turn in nature; insects even die to satisfy the craving for revenge when they are attacked. And do not these gentlemen tell us"--and she looked at the priest --"that God is revenged, and that His vengeance lasts through all eternity?" The priest looked mildly at Lisbeth and said: "You, madame, are an atheist!" "But look what I have come to," said Valerie. "And where did you get this gangrene?" asked the old maid, unmoved from her peasant incredulity. "I had a letter from Henri which leaves me in no doubt as to my fate. He has murdered me. And--just when I meant to live honestly--to die an object of disgust! "Lisbeth, give up all notions of revenge. Be kind to that family to whom I have left by my will everything I can dispose of. Go, child, though you are the only creature who, at this hour, does not avoid me with horror--go, I beseech you, and leave me.--I have only time to make my peace with God!" "She is wandering in her wits," said Lisbeth to herself, as she left the room. The strongest affection known, that of a woman for a woman, had not such heroic constancy as the Church. Lisbeth, stifled by the miasma, went away. She found the physicians still in consultation. But Bianchon's opinion carried the day, and the only question now was how to try the remedies. "At any rate, we shall have a splendid _post-mortem_," said one of his opponents, "and there will be two cases to enable us to make comparisons." Lisbeth went in again with Bianchon, who went up to the sick woman without seeming aware of the malodorous atmosphere. "Madame," said he, "we intend to try a powerful remedy which may save you--" "And if you save my life," said she, "shall I be as good-looking as ever?" "Possibly," said the judicious physician. "I know your _possibly_," said Valerie. "I shall look like a woman who has fallen into the fire! No, leave me to the Church. I can please no one now but God. I will try to be reconciled to Him, and that will be my last flirtation; yes, I must try to come round God!" "That is my poor Valerie's last jest; that is all herself!" said Lisbeth in tears.