The Mystery of Orcival

er a second of
weariness. He repeated to all who went to see him, that he had
come to bless his illness. He said to himself, 'If I had not
fallen ill, I should never have known how much I was beloved.'"

"He said the same thing to me," interrupted the mayor, "more than a
hundred times. He also said so to Madame Courtois, to Laurence,
my eldest daughter--"

"Naturally," continued M. Plantat. "But Sauvresy's distemper was
one against which the science of the most skilful physicians and
the most constant care contend in vain.

"He said that he did not suffer much, but he faded perceptibly, and
was no more than the shadow of his former self. At last, one night,
toward two or three o'clock, he died in the arms of his wife and
his friend. Up to the last moment, he had preserved the full force
of his faculties. Less than an hour before expiring, he wished
everyone to be awakened, and that all the servants of the castle
should be summoned. When they were all gathered about the bedside,
he took his wife's hand, placed it in that of the Count de Tremorel,
and made them swear to marry each other when he was no more. Bertha
and Hector began to protest, but he insisted in such a manner as to
compel assent, praying and adjuring them, and declaring that their
refusal would embitter his last moments. This idea of the marriage
between his widow and his friend seems, besides, to have singularly
possessed his thoughts toward the close of his life. In the
preamble of his will, dictated the night before his death, to M.
Bury, notary of Orcival, he says formally that their union is his
dearest wish, certain as he is of their happiness, and knowing well
that his memory will be piously kept."

"Had Monsieur and Madame Sauvresy no children?" asked the judge of
instruction.

"No," answered the mayor.

M. Plantat continued:

"The grief of the count and the young widow was intense. M. de
Tremorel, especially, seemed absolutely desperate, and acted like a
madman. The countess shut herself up, forbiddi

John Addington Symonds (October 5, 1840 - April 19, 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. He was an early advocate of the validity of male love which included for him pederastic as well as egalitarian relationships, and which he would refer to as lamour de limpossible.

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