Mademoiselle had begun to undress, when Germinie entered her bedroom,
walked a few steps, dropped upon a chair, and almost immediately, after
two or three long-drawn, deep, heart-breaking sighs, mademoiselle saw
her throw herself backward, wringing her hands, and at last roll from
the chair to the floor. She tried to lift her up, but Germinie was
shaken by such violent convulsions that the old woman was obliged to let
the frantic body fall again upon the floor; for all the limbs, which
were for a moment contracted and rigid, lashed out to right and left, at
random, with the sharp report of the trigger of a rifle, and threw down
whatever they came in contact with. At mademoiselle's shrieks on the
landing, a maid ran to a doctor's office near by but did not find him;
four other women employed in the house assisted mademoiselle to lift
Germinie up and carry her to the bed in her mistress's room, on which
they laid her after cutting her corset lacings.
The terrible convulsions, the nervous contortions of the limbs, the
snapping of the tendons had ceased; but her neck and her breast, which
was uncovered where her dress was unbuttoned, moved up and down as if
waves were rising and falling under the skin, and the rustling of the
skirts showed that the movement extended to her feet. Her head thrown
back, her face flushed, her eyes full of melancholy tenderness, of the
patient agony we see in the eyes of the wounded, the great veins clearly
marked under her chin, Germinie, breathing hard and paying no heed to
questions, raised her hands to her neck and throat and clawed at them;
she seemed to be trying to tear out the sensation of something rising
and falling within her. In vain did they make her inhale ether and drink
orange-flower water; the waves of grief that flowed through her body did
not cease their action; and her face continued to wear the same
expression of gentle melancholy and sentimental anxiety, which seemed to
place the suffering of the heart above the suffering of the flesh in
every feature. For a long time everything seemed to wound her senses and
to produce a painful effect upon them--the bright light, the sound of
voices, the odor of the things about her. At last, after an hour or
more, a deluge of tears suddenly poured from her eyes and put an end to
the terrible crisis. After that there was nothing more than an
occasional convulsive shudder in the overburdened body, soon quieted by
weariness and by general prostration. It was possible to carry Germinie
to her own room.
The letter Adele handed her contained the news of her daughter's death.