The poor woman, who is said to have been very
pretty, is punished for her sins, for she is now squalidly hideous if
she is still anything at all. She is losing her hair and teeth, her
skin is like a leper's, she is a horror to herself; her hands are
horrible, covered with greenish pustules, her nails are loose, and the
flesh is eaten away by the poisoned humors."
"And the cause of such a disease?" asked the lawyer.
"Oh!" said the doctor, "the cause lies in a form of rapid
blood-poisoning; it degenerates with terrific rapidity. I hope to act
on the blood; I am having it analyzed; and I am now going home to
ascertain the result of the labors of my friend Professor Duval, the
famous chemist, with a view to trying one of those desperate measures
by which we sometimes attempt to defeat death."
"The hand of God is there!" said Adeline, in a voice husky with
emotion. "Though that woman has brought sorrows on me which have led
me in moments of madness to invoke the vengeance of Heaven, I hope
--God knows I hope--you may succeed, doctor."
Victorin felt dizzy. He looked at his mother, his sister, and the
physician by turns, quaking lest they should read his thoughts. He
felt himself a murderer.
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