“Oh! it is you--it is you!” exclaimed the old man.
“And could you possibly believe that I should have been apprized of the state in which you were, and that I would not instantly fly to your assistance?”
“But I knew not where to find you--where I could send to tell you that I wished once more to see you before I died.”
“I was at the castle, father, where I learned that you were dangerously ill, and I hastened hither.”
“And how was it that you were at the castle?” said the old man, with amazement.
Paul related to him all that had occurred.
“Eternal Providence!” cried the old man, when Paul had concluded his recital, “how hidden and inevitable are thy decrees. Thou, who, after twenty years, hast conducted this youth to the cradle of his infancy, and hast killed the assassin of the father, by the mere aspect of the son!”
“Yes, yes, thus it happens,” replied Paul, “and it is Providence, also, who conducts me to you, that I might save you. For I heard them refuse to send you the physician and the priest.”
“According to common justice,” rejoined Achard, “they might have made a fair division. The marquis, who fears death, might have retained the physician, while to me who am tired of life, they might have sent the priest.”
“I can go on horseback,” said Paul, “and in less than an hour--”
“In an hour it would be too late,” said the dying man, in an enfeebled voice, “a priest! a priest only--I ask but for a priest.”
“Father,” replied Paul, “in his sacred functions, I know I cannot supply his place; but we can speak of God, of his greatness and his goodness.”
“Yes, but let us first finish with the things of this earth, that we may then be able to turn our thoughts wholly to those of heaven. You say that, like myself, the marquis is dying.”
“You know, that immediately after his death, the papers which are deposited in that closet, and which prove your birth, are yours by right.”
“If I die before the marquis, to whom can I confide them?” The old man sat up and pointed to a key hanging at the head of his bed. “You will take that key, you will open the closet--in it you will find a casket. You are a man of honor. Swear to me that you will not open that casket until the marquis shall be dead.”