The Opposite House: A Novel — page 219: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

214 The Opposite Flouse. She covered her face with her hands—thin, trans- parent white hands. Traugott raised himself on his pillows; her words pierced him to the heart, and the sight of her stirred him even more powerfully than memory. “You have suffered want?” he repeated, with dilated eyes. “How can a woman like you suffer want? You, Heloise, who are received everywhere with open arms ?” A sorrowful smile quivered around her lips as she gazed intently at the sleeping cuirassier, who, sigh- ing heavily, turned over on the other side. “TY was ill; robbed; helpless,” she continued, in a hollow tone. ‘“ No one took my part; I could get no engagement. Matters went from bad to worse. I knew what it was to eat dry bread. Oh! And then the war! This horrible war! I received a letter from Maurice; he was the only human being who still cared for me. I sought him amid all these horrors. I knew that I should find him.” She paused again; then, with a swift glance, asked : “Have you, too, been unhappy, Traugott? Un- happy for the sake of a half-withered flower, which the fair-haired baroness could restore at any time? Why is your whole existence poisoned because, in the whirl of the dance, you lost her little pledge of love? Are you still wretched, Traugott? In the name of Heaven’s mercy, tell me that it is not so!” ComicboOoks.c©