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STRAIT IS THE GATE 192

and Robert were able to be present at the funeral which took place the day before yesterday. They were not the only persons to follow the bier. Some of the patients of the nursing home wished to be present at the ceremony and to accompany the body to the cemetery. As for me, I am expecting my fifth baby any day now, and unfortunately I was unable to move. “My dear Jerome, I know the deep sorrow this loss will cause you, and I write to you with a breaking heart. I have been obliged to stop in bed for the last two days, and I write with difficulty, but I would not let anyone else, not even Edouard or Robert, speak to you of her whom we two, doubtless, were the only persons in the world to know. Now that I am an almost old mother of a family, and that the burning past is covered over with a heap of ashes, I may hope to see you again. If business or pleasure ever take you to Nîmes, come on to Aigues-Vives. Edouard would be glad to know you, and you and I would be able to talk together of Alissa. Good-bye , my dear Jerome. "Affectionately and sadly yours..."


A few days later , I learnt that Alissa had left Fongueusemare to her brother , but had asked that

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