But the queen held her hand fast. "Let them be," she whispered, "I
want to see whether both the other lights--"
Suddenly she was convulsed, and, rising slowly from her arm-chair,
pointed with silent amazement at the second candlestick.
One of the two other lights had gone out.
Only one was now burning, and dark shadows filled the cabinet. The
one light faintly illumined only the centre, and shone with its
glare upon the pale, horrified face of the queen.
"Campan," she whispered, raising her arm, and pointing at the single
light which remained burning, "if this fourth light goes out like
the other three, it is a bad omen for me, and forebodes the approach
of misfortune."
At this instant the light flared up and illumined the room more
distinctly, then its flame began to die away. One flare more and
this light went out, and a deep darkness reigned in the cabinet.
The queen uttered a loud, piercing cry, and sank in a swoon.
CHAPTER VIII.
BEFORE THE MARRIAGE.
The wedding guests were assembled. Madame Bugeaud had just put the
veil upon the head of her daughter Margaret, and impressed upon her
forehead the last kiss of motherly love. It was the hour when a
mother holds her daughter as a child in her arms for the last time,
bids adieu to the pleasant pictures of the past, and sends her child
from her parents' house to go out into the world and seek a new
home.
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