Guy de Maupassant complete short stories volume 2 - Penn State ...

floor, by the side of a washbasin and a glass, while a strong
smell of vinegar pervaded the room.
“The dead man’s body was lying at full length in the middle
of the room, and I went up to it, looked at it, and touched it. I
opened the eyes and felt the hands, and then, turning to the
two women, who were shaking as if they were freezing, I said to
them: ‘Help me to lift him on to the bed.’ When we had laid
him gently on it, I listened to his heart and put a looking-glass
to his lips, and then said: ‘It is all over.’ It was a terrible sight!
“I looked at the man, and said: ‘You ought to arrange his hair a
little.’ The girl went and brought her mistress’ comb and brush,
but as she was trembling, and pulling out his long, matted hair in
doing it, Madame Lelievre took the comb out of her hand, and
arranged his hair as if she were caressing him. She parted it, brushed
his beard, rolled his mustaches gently round her fingers, then, suddenly,
letting go of his hair, she took the dead man’s inert head in
her hands and looked for a long time in despair at the dead face,
which no longer could smile at her, and then, throwing herself on
him, she clasped him in her arms and kissed him ardently. Her
kisses fell like blows on his closed mouth and eyes, his forehead
and temples; and then, putting her lips to his ear, as if he could still
hear her, and as if she were about to whisper something to him,
she said several times, in a heartrending voice:
An Artifice
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“‘Good-by, my darling!’
“Just then the clock struck twelve, and I started up. ‘Twelve
o’clock!’ I exclaimed. ‘That is the time when the club closes.
Come, madame, we have not a moment to lose!’ She started
up, and I said:
“‘We must carry him into the drawing-room.’ And when we
had done this, I placed him on a sofa, and lit the chandeliers,
and just then the front door was opened and shut noisily. ‘Rose,
bring me the basin and the towels, and make the room look
tidy. Make haste, for Heaven’s sake! Monsieur Lelievre is coming
in.’
“I heard his steps on the stairs, and then his hands feeling
along the walls. ‘Come here, my dear fellow,’ I said; ‘we have
had an accident.’
“And the astonished husband appeared in the door with a cigar
in his mouth, and said: ‘What is the matter? What is the
meaning of this?’ ‘My dear friend,’ I said, going up to him, ‘you
find us in great embarrassment. I had remained late, chatting
with your wife and our friend, who had brought me in his carriage,
when he suddenly fainted, and in spite of all we have done,
he has remained unconscious for two hours. I did not like to call
in strangers, and if you will now help me downstairs with him, I
shall be able to attend to him better at his own house.’