"Gaston, dear friend!" he cried, as he took my hand--and a thin, withered
hand it was.
We talked long together,--we three,--and anon we were joined by the
Chevalier de Canaples, who offered me also, in his hesitating manner, his
felicitations. And with me they lingered until Yvonne came to drive them
with protestations from my bedside.
Such, in brief, was the manner of my resurrection. For a week or so I
still kept my chamber; then one day towards the middle of April, the
weather being warm and the sun bright, Michelot assisted me to don my
clothes, which hung strangely empty upon my gaunt, emaciated frame, and,
leaning heavily upon my faithful henchman, I made my way below.
In the salon I found the Chevalier de Canaples with Mesdemoiselles and
Andrea awaiting me, and the kindness wherewith they overwhelmed me, as I
sat propped up with pillows, was such that I asked myself again and again
if, indeed, I was that same Gaston de Luynes who but a little while ago had
held himself as destitute of friends as he was of fortune. I was the
pampered hero of the hour, and even little Genevi?ve had a sunny smile and
a kind word for me.
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