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The Queen's Necklace, a novel by Alexandre Dumas |
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Chapter 52. Delirium |
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_ CHAPTER LII. DELIRIUM M. De Charny conquered the fever. The next day the report was favorable. Once out of danger, Doctor Louis ceased to take so much interest in him; and after the lapse of a week, as he had not forgotten all that had passed in his delirium, he wished to have him removed from Versailles: but Charny, at the first hint of this, rebelled, and said angrily, "that his majesty had given him shelter there, and that no one had a right to disturb him." The doctor, who was not patient with intractable convalescents, ordered four men to come in and move him; but Charny caught hold of his bed with one hand, and struck furiously with the other at every one who approached; and with the effort, the wound reopened, the fever returned, and he began to cry out that the doctor wished to deprive him of the visions that he had in his sleep, but that it was all in vain; for that she who sent them to him was of too high rank to mind the doctor. Then the doctor, frightened, sent the men away, and dressed the wound again; but as the delirium returned stronger than ever, he determined to go once more to the queen. Marie Antoinette received him with a smile; she expected to hear that the patient was cured, but on hearing that he was very ill, she cried: "Why, yesterday you said he was going on so well!" "It was not true, madame." "And why did you deceive me? Is there, then, danger?" "Yes, madame, to himself and others; but the evil is moral, not physical. The wound in itself is nothing; but, madame, M. de Charny is fast becoming a monomaniac, and this I cannot cure. Madame, you will have ruined this young man." "I, doctor! Am I the cause, if he is mad?" "If you are not now, you soon will be." "What must I do, then? Command me, doctor." "This young man must be cured either with kindness or coercion. The woman whose name he evokes every instant must kill or cure him." "Doctor, you exaggerate. Can you kill a man with a hard word, or cure a madman with a smile?" "If your majesty be incredulous, I have only to pay my respects, and take leave." "No, doctor; tell me what you wish." "Madame, if you desire to free this palace from his cries, and from scandal, you must act." "You wish me to come and see him?" "Yes." "Then I will call some one--Mademoiselle de Taverney, for example--and you have all ready to receive us. But it is a dreadful responsibility to run the risk of kill or cure, as you say." "It is what I have to do every day. Come, madame, all is ready." The queen sighed, and followed the doctor, without waiting for Andree, who was not to be found. It was eleven o'clock in the morning, and Charny was asleep, after the troubled night he had gone through. The queen, attired in an elegant morning dress, entered the corridor. The doctor advised her to present herself suddenly, determined to produce a crisis, either for good or ill; but at the door they found a woman standing, who had not time to assume her usual unmoved tranquillity, but showed an agitated countenance, and trembled before them. "Andree!" cried the queen. "Yes, your majesty; you are here too!" "I sent for you, but they could not find you." Andree, anxious to hide her feelings, even at the price of a falsehood, said, "I heard your majesty had asked for me, and came after you." "How did you know I was here?" "They said you were gone with Doctor Louis, so I guessed it." "Well guessed," replied the queen, who was little suspicious, and forgot immediately her first surprise. She went on, leaving Andree with the doctor. Andree, seeing her disappear, gave a look full of anger and grief. The doctor said to her: "Do you think she will succeed?" "Succeed in what?" "In getting this poor fellow removed, who will die here." "Will he live elsewhere?" asked Andree, surprised. "I believe so." "Oh, then, may she succeed!" _ |
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