Vert. Two or three of the men hurriedly followed him; but, before they could interpose, Le Vert had risen, bruised and bleeding, and, with the spring of a cat, buried a knife in De Cheville's side! The latter reeled for a moment, but recovered himself; and, as the blow was about to be repeated, grasped his assailant's arm, and, wresting the knife from his hand, would have sheathed it in his bosom. But now came a rush of men, accompanied by the clamor of many voices; and, at the same moment, Coron's hand dropped, his eyes closed, and he sank lifeless into the arms of his friend Beman.
"He is dead!" shouted the latter. "Seize the murderer!"
The crowd swayed to and fro, and, in the obscurity, several persons were arrested; but Le Vert was nowhere to be found. Marie, with several other ladies, without knowing the cause, were involved in the confusion, unable to ascertain what had happened, until she heard Berman's exclamation.
"What is the matter? Who is dead?" she asked, but without eliciting an answer, until some one clambered into the window, and, after looking out upon the corridor, turned to announce
"It is Coron de Cheville!"
A scream rang through the saloon, of such intense and sudden agony, as to silence the clamors of the crowd; and, dashing both hands against her temples, Marie reeled, fainting, to the floor! Monsieur Maillefert raised her, placed her tenderly upon a divan, and called frantically for water. While it was being brought, he stood disconsolately wringing his hands, and repeating, in a voice of ruin and despair:
"Ah! Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Mi fête is spoil! mi fête in spoil!"
The women clustered about the prostrate girl, and, dashing water into her face, soon brought her back to partial consciousness. She sat up and looked, bewildered, about her, unable to recall the meaning of the scene. But, when some one came in from the room where De Cheville had been carried, and said that the doctor pronounced the wound dangerous, but not mortal, she threw herself into the arms of the woman who knelt beside her, and burst into tears, exclaiming:
"Thank God! Oh! thank God!"
