Elspeth and I were busy with the old lady, and he had made the salad without help from any one.
From the first the doctor gave us little hope, and they sank rapidly.
Their priest, for whom Adolphe made a second expedition, did not arrive in time; they were in separate rooms, and Elspeth and I flitted from one to the other in sad attendance.

The dear little old lady sank fast, and died in the evening.
Then the doctor impressed on us the necessity of keeping her death from my great-grandfather's knowledge.
"But supposing he asks ?" said I.
"Say any soothing thing your ready wit may suggest, my dear young lady.
But the truth, in his present condition, would be a fatal shock." It haunted me.

"Supposing he asks." And late in the evening he did ask! I was alone with him, and he called me.
"Marguerite, dear child, thou wilt tell me the truth.

Why does my wife, my Victoire, thy grandmother, not come to me ?" Pondering what lie I could tell him, and how, an irresistible impulse seized me.

I bent over him and said: "Dear sir, the King has summoned the Duchess." Does the mind regain power as the body fails?
My great-grandfather turned his head, and, as his blue eyes met mine, I could not persuade myself that he was deceived.
"The will of his Majesty be done," he said faintly but firmly.
The next few moments seemed like years.