were not so repugnant to her.

The hour in which the marquise was to take this medicine was hardly over
when the abbe and the chevalier sent to know how she was. She replied
that she was quite well, and invited them to a collation which she was
giving about four o'clock to the ladies who made up her little circle.
An hour afterwards the abbe and the chevalier sent a second time to
inquire after her; the marquise, without paying particular attention to
this excessive civility, which she remembered afterwards, sent word as
before that she was perfectly well. The marquise had remained in bed to
do the honours of her little feast, and never had she felt more cheerful.
At the hour named all her guests arrived; the abbe and the chevalier were
ushered in, and the meal was served. Neither one nor the other would
share it; the abbe indeed sat down to table, but the chevalier remained
leaning on the foot of the bed. The abbe appeared anxious, and only
roused himself with a start from his absorption; then he seemed to drive
away some dominant idea, but soon the idea, stronger than his will,
plunged him again into a reverie, a state which struck everyone the more
particularly because it was far from his usual temper. As to the
chevalier, his eyes were fixed constantly upon his sister-in-law, but in
this there was not, as in his brother's behaviour, anything surprising,
since the marquise had never looked so beautiful.

The meal over, the company took leave. The abbe escorted the ladies
downstairs; the chevalier remained with the marquise; but hardly had the
abbe left the room when Madame de Ganges saw the chevalier turn pale and
drop in a sitting position--he had been standing on the foot of the bed.
The marquise, uneasy, asked what was the matter; but before he could
reply, her attention was called to another quarter. The abbe, as pale and
as disturbed as the chevalier, came back into the room, carrying in his