The table had been covered with a fresh damask cloth.

At the right and the left of the crucifix two large wax-tapers were burning in the silver candelabrum which had been brought up from the parlour, and there were also there the consecrated wafers, the asperges brush, an ewer of water with its basin and a napkin, and two plates of white porcelain, one of which was filled with long bits of cotton, and the other with little _cornets_ of paper.

The greenhouses of the lower town had been thoroughly searched, but the only inodorous flowers that had been found were the peonies--great white peonies, enormous tufts of which adorned the table, like a shimmering of white lace.

And in the midst of this intense whiteness, Angelique, dying, with closed eyes, still breathed gently with a half-perceptible breath.
The doctor, who had made his first morning visit, had said that she could not live through the day.

She might, indeed, pass away at any moment, without even having come to her senses at all.