O you assassin! You murderer! beware! it is a matter of
life and death."
Thus, I communed with myself; then on the sofa I caught sight of a little
gingham dress, folded and ready to be packed in the trunk. It had been
the witness of our happy days. I took it up and examined it.
"I leave you!" I said to it; "I lose you! O little dress, would you go
away without me?"
"No, I can not abandon Brigitte; under the circumstances it would be
cowardly. She has just lost her aunt, and is all alone; she is exposed to
the power of, I know not what enemy. Can it be Mercanson? He may have
spoken of my conversation with him, and seeing that I was jealous of
Dalens, may have guessed the rest. Assuredly, he is the snake who has
been hissing about my well-beloved flower. I must punish him, and I must
repair the wrong I have done Brigitte. Fool that I am! I think of leaving
her when I ought to consecrate my life to her, to the expiation of my
sins, to rendering her happy after the tears I have drawn from her eyes!
When I am her only support in the world, her only friend, her only
protection! When I ought to follow her to the end of the world, to
shelter her with my body, to console her for having loved me, for having
given herself to me!"
"Brigitte!" I cried, returning to her room, "wait an hour for me and I
will return."
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Wait for me," I replied, "do not set out without me.
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