"God's death! you scamp," said the count, giving him back his eyesight
by a rough movement which threw upon the man's neck the bandage that
had been upon his eyes. "I warn you not to look at anything but the
wretched woman on whom you are now to exercise your skill; if you do,
I'll fling you into the river that flows beneath those windows, with a
collar round your neck weighing a hundred pounds!"
With that, he pulled down upon the breast of his stupefied hearer the
cravat with which his eyes had been bandaged.
"Examine first if this can be a miscarriage," he continued; "in which
case your life will answer to me for the mother's; but, if the child
is living, you are to bring it to me."
So saying, the count seized the poor operator by the body and placed
him before the countess, then he went himself to the depths of a
bay-window and began to drum with his fingers upon the panes, casting
glances alternately on his serving-man, on the bed, and at the ocean,
as if he were pledging to the expected child a cradle in the waves.
The man whom, with outrageous violence, the count and Bertrand had
snatched from his bed and fastened to the crupper of the latter's
horse, was a personage whose individuality may serve to characterize
the period,--a man, moreover, whose influence was destined to make
itself felt in the house of Herouville.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47