The Essential Guy de Maupassant Collection. Guy de Maupassant

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      A superb morsel--one of my prettiest.

      JEAN [_in a low voice_]

      And Musotte, how is she?

      MUSOTTE [_who has heard him_]

      I,--I am almost lost. I know surely that all is over. [_To_ Jean.] Take that little chair, dear, and seat yourself near me, and let us talk as long as I am able to speak. I have so many things to say to you, for we shall never be together any more. I am so glad to see you again that nothing else now seems of any importance.

      JEAN [_approaching her_] Don't agitate yourself. Don't get excited.

      MUSOTTE

      How can I help being agitated at seeing you again?

      JEAN [_sits on the low chair, takes_ Musotte's _hand_]

      My poor Musotte, I cannot tell you what a shock it was to me when I learned just now that you were so ill.

      MUSOTTE

      And on this day of all days! It must have shocked you greatly.

      JEAN

      What! Do you know of it then?

      MUSOTTE

      Yes, since I felt so ill, I kept myself informed about you every day, in order that I might not pass away without having seen you and spoken to you again, for I have so much to say to you. [_At a sign from_ Jean, Mme. Flache, Pellerin, _and_ La Babin _exit_ R.]

      SCENE IV.

      (Musotte _and_ Jean.)

      MUSOTTE

      Then you received the letter?

      JEAN

      Yes.

      MUSOTTE

      And you came immediately?

      JEAN

      Certainly.

      MUSOTTE

      Thanks--ah! thanks. I hesitated a long time before warning you--hesitated even this morning, but I heard the midwife talking with the nurse and learned that to-morrow perhaps it might be too late, so I sent Doctor Pellerin to call you immediately.

      JEAN

      Why didn't you call me sooner?

      MUSOTTE

      I never thought that my illness would become so serious. I did not wish to trouble your life.

      JEAN [_points to the cradle_]

      But that child! How is it that I was not told of this sooner?

      MUSOTTE

      You would never have known it, if his birth had not killed me. I would have spared you this pain--this cloud upon your life. When you left me, you gave me enough to live upon. Everything was over between us; and besides, at any other moment than this, would you believe me if I said to you: "This is your child?"

      JEAN

      Yes, I have never doubted you.

      MUSOTTE

      You are as good as ever, my Jean. No, no, I am not lying to you; he is yours, that little one there. I swear it to you on my deathbed; I swear it to you before God!

      JEAN

      I have already told you that I believed you. I have always believed you.

      MUSOTTE

      Listen, this is all that has happened. As soon as you left me, I became very ill. I suffered so much that I thought I was going to die. The doctor ordered a change of air. You remember, it was in the spring. I went to Saint-Malo--to that old relative, of whom I have often talked to you.

      JEAN

      Yes, yes.

      MUSOTTE

      It was in Saint-Malo, after some days, that I realized that you had left me a pledge of your affection. My first desire was to tell you everything, for I knew that you were an honest man--that you would have recognized this child, perhaps even have given up your marriage; but I would not have had you do that. All was over; was it not?--and it was better that it should be so. I knew that I could never be your wife [_smiles_], Musotte, me, Madame Martinel--oh, no!

      JEAN

      My poor, dear girl. How brutal and hard we men are, without thinking of it and without wishing to be so!

      MUSOTTE

      Don't say that. I was not made for you. I was only a little model; and you, you were a rising artist, and I never thought that you would belong to me forever. [Jean _sheds tears_.] No, no, don't cry; you have nothing to reproach yourself with. You have always been so good to me. It is only God who has been cruel to me.

      JEAN

      Musotte!

      MUSOTTE

      Let me go on. I remained at Saint-Malo without revealing my condition. Then I came back to Paris, and here some months afterward the little one was born--the child! When I fully understood what had happened to me, I experienced at first such fear; yes, such fear! Then I remembered that he was bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh; that you had given him life, and that he was a pledge from you. But one is so stupid when one knows nothing. One's ideas change just as one's moods change, and I became contented all at once; contented with the thought that I would bring him up, that he would grow to be a man, that he would call me mother. [_Weeps._] Now, he will never call me mother. He will never put his little arms around my neck, because I am going to leave him; because I am going away--I don't know where; but there, where everybody goes. Oh, God! My God!

      JEAN

      Calm yourself, my little Musotte. Would you be able to speak as you do speak if you were as ill as you think you are?

      MUSOTTE

      You do not see that the fever is burning within me; that I am losing my head, and don't know longer what I say.

      JEAN

      No, no; please calm yourself.

      MUSOTTE

      Pet me; pet me, Jean, and you will calm me.

      JEAN [_kisses her hair; then resumes_]

      There, there; don't speak any more for a minute or two. Let us remain quietly here near each other.

      MUSOTTE

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