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The confession by Gui de Monpassant.
Marguerite de Terelle was dying. Although but

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fifty six, she seemed like seventy
five. At least, she panted paler

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than the sheets, shaken by dreadful
shiverings. Her face convulsed, her eyes

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haggard, as if she had seen
some horrible thing. Her eldest sister,

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Suzanne, six years older, sobbed
on her knees beside the bed. A

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little table, drawn close to the
couch of the dying woman and covered with

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a napkin, bore two lighted candles, the priest being momentarily expected to give

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extreme unction and the communion, which
should be the last. The apartment had

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that sinister aspect, that air of
hopeless farewells which belongs to the chambers of

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the dying. Medicine bottles stood about
on the furniture. Linen lay in the

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corners, pushed aside by foot or
broom. The disordered chairs themselves seemed affrighted,

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as if they had run. In
all the senses of the word death.

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The formidable was there hidden waiting.
The story of the two sisters was

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very touching. It was quoted far
and wide. It had made many eyes

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to weep. Suzanne, the elder, had once been madly in love with

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a young man who had also been
in love with her. They were engaged

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and were only waiting the day fixed
for the contract when Henry de Lampierre suddenly

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died. The despair of the young
girl was dreadful, and she vowed that

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she would never marry. She kept
her word. She put on widow's weeds,

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which she never took off. Then
her sister, her little sister,

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Marguerite, who was only twelve years
old, came one morning to throw herself

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into the arms of the elder and
said, big sister, I do not

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want thee to be unhappy. I
do not want thee to cry all thy

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life. I will never leave thee
never never, ay, I too,

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shall never marry. I shall stay
with thee always, always always. Suzanne,

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touched by the devotion of the child, kissed her but did not believe.

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Yet the little one also kept her
word, and despite the entreaties of

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her parents, despite the supplications of
the elder, she never married. She

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was pretty, very pretty. She
refused many a young man who seemed to

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love her truly, and she never
left her sister more. They lived together

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all the days of their life,
without ever being separated a single time.

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They went side by side, inseparably
united. But Marguerite seemed always sad,

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oppressed, more melancholy than the elder, as though perhaps her sublime sacrifice had

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broken her spirit. She aged more
quickly, had white hair from the age

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of thirty, and often suffering,
seemed afflicted by some secret, gnawing trouble.

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Now she was to be the first
to die, since yesterday she was

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no longer able to speak. She
had only said, at the first glimmers

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of day dawn, go fetch monsieur
le coret. The moment has come,

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and she had remained since then upon
her back shaken with spasms, her lips

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agitated, as though dreadful words were
mounting from her heart without power of issue.

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Her look mad with fear, terrible
to see her sister torn by sorrow.

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Wept wildly, her forehead resting on
the edge of the bed, and

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kept repeating, Margot, My poor
Margot, my little one. She had

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always called her little one, just
as the younger had always called her big

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sister. Steps were heard on the
stairs, the door opened, A choir

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boy appeared, followed by an old
priest in a surplice. As soon as

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she perceived him, the dying woman, with one shudder, sat up,

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opened her lips, stammered two or
three words, and began to scratch the

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sheets with her nails, as if
she had wished to make a hole.

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The abbe Simon approached, took her
hand, kissed her brow, and with

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a soft voice, God, pardon
thee, my child, have courage.

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The moment is now come. Speak. Then, Marguerite, shivering from head

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to foot, shaking her whole couch
with nervous moments, stammered, sit down,

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big sister, listen. The priest
bent down towards Suzan, who was

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still flung upon the bed's foot.
He raised her, placed her in her

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arm chair, and, taking a
hand of each of the sisters in one

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of his own, he pronounced,
Lord, my God, and do them

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with strength, cast thy mercy upon
them. And Marguerite began to speak.

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The words issued from her throat,
one by one, rocus with sharp pauses,

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as though very feeble. Pardon,
pardon, big sister, Oh forgive

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If thou knewest how I have had
fear of this moment all my life,

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Suzan stammered through her tears. Forgive
thee what little one Thou hast given all

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to me, sacrificed everything. Thou
art an angel. But Marguerite interrupted her,

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Hush, hush, let me speak. Do not stop me. It

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is dreadful. Let me tell all
to the very end, without flinching.

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Listen, Thou rememberest. Henry Suzanne
trembled and looked at her sister. The

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younger continued, Thou must hear all
to understand. I was twelve years old,

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only twelve years old, thou rememberest. Well, is it not so?

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And I was spoiled. I did
everything that I liked. Thou rememberest.

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Surely how they spoiled me? Listen? The first time that he came,

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he had varnished boots. He got
down from his horse at the great

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steps, and he begged pardon for
his costume. But he came to bring

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some news to Papa. Thou rememberest, Is it not so? Don't speak

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listen. When I saw him,
I was completely carried away. I found

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him so very beautiful, and I
remained standing in a corner of the salon

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all the time that he was talking. Children are strange and terrible. Oh

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yes, I have dreamed of all
that. He came back again several times.

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I looked at him with all my
eyes, with all my soul.

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I was large of my age and
very much more knowing than anyone thought.

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He came back often. I thought
only of him. I said, very

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low, Henry, Henry de Lampierre. Then they said that he was going

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to marry thee. It was a
sorrow, oh, big sister, A

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sorrow, A sorrow. I cried
for three nights without sleeping. He came

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back every day in the afternoon after
his lunch. Thou rememberest, Is it

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not so? Say nothing? Listen? Thou madest him cakes which he liked,

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with meal, with butter and milk. Oh, I know well how

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I could make them, Yet if
it were needed, he ate them at

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one mouthful, and and then he
drank a glass of wine. And then

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he said it is delicious. Thou
rememberest how he would say that? I

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was jealous? Jealous? The moment
of thy marriage approached, there were only

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two weeks more. I became crazy. I said to myself, he shall

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not marry Suzanne. No, I
will not have it. It is I

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whom he will marry when I am
grown up. I shall never find any

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one whom I love so much.
But one night, ten days before the

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contract, thou tookst a walk with
him in front of the chateau by moonlight,

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and there under the fir, under
the great fur, he kissed thee,

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kissed, holding thee in his two
arms. So long thou rememberest,

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is it not so? It was
probably the first time. Yes, thou

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wast so pale. When thou earnest
back to the salon, I had seen

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you too. I was there in
the shrubbery. I was angry. If

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I could, I should have killed
you both. I said to myself,

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he shall not marry Suzan. Never, he shall marry no one. I

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should be too unhappy. And all
of a sudden I began to hate him

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dreadfully. Then dost thou know what
I did? Listen? I had seen

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the gardener making little balls to kill
strange dogs. He pounded up a bottle

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with a stone and put the powdered
glass in a little ball of meat.

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I took a little medicine bottle that
Mamma had. I broke it small with

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a hammer, and I hid the
glass in my pocket. It was a

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shining powder. The next day,
as soon as you had made the little

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cakes. I split them with a
knife, and I put in the glass.

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He ate three of them. I
too, I ate one. I

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threw the other six into the pond. The two swans died three days after.

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Do thou remember, oh, say
nothing. Listen, Listen, I

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alone did not die, but I
have always been sick. Listen he died.

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Thou knowest well. Listen that that
is nothing. It is afterwards later

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always the worst. Listen my life, all my life, what torture.

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I said to myself. I will
never leave my sister. And at the

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hour of death, I will tell
her all there and ever since. I

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have always thought of that moment when
I should tell thee all. Now it

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is come. It is terrible,
Oh, big sister. I have always

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thought morning and evening, by night
and by day. Some time I must

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tell her that I waited. What
agony? It is done. Say nothing

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now. I am afraid. I
am afraid. Oh, I am afraid.

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If I am going to see him
again, soon when I am dead,

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see him again. Think of it
the first before thou I shall not

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dare I must. I am going
to die. I want you to forgive

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me. I want it. I
cannot go off to meet him. Without

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that, Oh, tell her to
forgive me, monsieur le core, Tell

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her, I implore you to do
it. I cannot die without that.

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She was silent and remained panting,
always scratching the sheet with her withered nails.

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Suzan had hidden her face in her
hands and did not move. She

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was thinking of him, whom she
might have loved so long, What a

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good life they should have had together. She saw him once again, in

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that vanished, by gone time,
and that old past which was put out

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forever, the beloved dead. How
they tear your hearts. Oh, that

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kiss, his only kiss. She
had hidden it in her soul, and

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after it nothing nothing more, her
whole life long. All of a sudden,

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the priest stood straight, and with
the strong, vibrant voice, he

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cried, mademoiselle Suzanne, your sister
is dying. Then Suzan, opening her

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hands, showed her face soaked with
tears, and throwing herself upon her sister,

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she kissed her with all her might, stammering, I forgive thee,

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I forgive thee little one,