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I groaned, I shrieked with delight.
"Tightly wedged as my prickle was, I tried to pull it out slowly, when all at once I heard a noise in the room. I saw a stronger light than that of the night lamp, then a hand was placed on my back. I heard my name being uttered aloud.
"Imagine my shame, my confusion, my horror. It was my mother, and I was over my sister.
"'Camille, what is the matter, are you ill?' said she.
"I awoke, shivering with fear and consternation, asking myself where I was, if I had defiled my sister, or what had happened?
"Alas! it was but too true, the last drops of that shattering fluid were still oozing from me. My mother was standing by my bedside, in flesh and blood. Mine, then, had not been a dream!
"But, where was my sister, or the girl I had enjoyed? Moreover, was this stiff rod I was holding in my hand, mine or Teleny's?
"Surely I was alone and in my bed. Then what did my mother want with me? And how
