she would get up presently. But she was seized with convulsions and cried out—
“Ah! my God! It is horrible!”
He threw himself on his knees by her bed.
“Tell me! what have you eaten? Answer, for heaven’s sake!”
And he looked at her with a tenderness in his eyes such as she had never seen.
“Well, there—there!” she said in a faint voice. He flew to the writing-table, tore open the seal, and read aloud: “Accuse no one.” He stopped, passed his hands across his eyes, and read it over again.
“What! help—help!”
He could only keep repeating the word: “Poisoned! poisoned!” Félicité ran to Homais, who proclaimed it in the marketplace; Madame Lefrançois heard it at the Lion d’Or; some got up to go and tell their neighbours, and all night the village was on the alert.