Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 4).djvu/251

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lembert took a key from his pocket, and unlocked it—"We are now (said he), in the chamber of your father."


The curtains of the bed were closed; Madeline snatched her hand from D'Alembert, and pulling them back, beheld her father extended on it—thin, ghastly, to all appearance dead. She shrieked aloud—"He is dead! (cried she), he is dead!—Oh! monster, you have murdered my father!"

"No, (said D'Alembert); you frighten yourself without a cause; the ghastly look of his countenance is occasioned by the opiate."

Madeline laid her hand upon his heart; she felt it faintly flutter; and a scream of joy burst from her lips. "Yet have I reason to rejoice at his existence (she cried), when I reflect upon his situation?"

"'Tis in your power (said D'Alembert), to change that situation—to restore him to liberty, to free him from danger, to ensure him protection."