Beatrix, my dear, come."
When the marquise, Camille, and Conti had arranged themselves at the
piano, Calyste rose softly, without attracting their attention, and
flung himself on one of the sofas in the bedroom, the door of which
stood open, where he sat with his head in his hands, plunged in
meditation.
X
DRAMA
"What is it, my child?" said Claude Vignon, who had slipped silently
into the bedroom after Calyste, and now took him by the hand. "You
love; you think you are disdained; but it is not so. The field will be
free to you in a few days and you will reign--beloved by more than
one."
"Loved!" cried Calyste, springing up, and beckoning Claude into the
library, "Who loves me here?"
"Camille," replied Claude.
"Camille loves me? And you!--what of you?"
"I?" answered Claude, "I--" He stopped; sat down on a sofa and rested
his head with weary sadness on a cushion. "I am tired of life, but I
have not the courage to quit it," he went on, after a short silence.
"I wish I were mistaken in what I have just told you; but for the last
few days more than one vivid light has come into my mind.
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