THE DUCHESS^ NEW YEAR*S GIFT. 21

When the physician informed him that the poor child
could only be saved by a miracle, he called him Doc-
tor Croaker, and said, rubbing his hands, — "Come,
come, aU this will be nothing!" He did not really
know himself whether he assumed these flippant airs
to reassure his family, or whether his natural levity
rendered him incapable of feeling sorrow. His wife
and his daughter adored him as he was. He treated
the duchess with the same gallantry as on their wed-
ding morning, and danced Germaine on his knees like
a child. The duchess never suspected him of being
the cause of his own ruin; she had seen a perfect
man in him for twenty-three years, and she took his
indifference for courage and firmness, continued to hope
in him in spite of every thing, and believed him capa-
ble of one day raising his house again by a stroke
of good fortune.
Germaine had four months to live, in the opinion of
Dr. Le Bris, — she would sink in the early spring
days, and the white lilacs would blossom on her tomb.
She had a foreboding of her destiny, and read her
condition with an acuteness which is very rare among
consumptives, — nay, more, she even suspected the dis-
ease that was undermining the health of her mother.
22 GERMAINE.
