After a rather long gossip, the two women separated.

Then, with the cooked meat she had provided for herself, and the remains of the Roussillon, Madame Cardinal made a repast which she finished off with a siesta.

Without mentioning the emotions of the day, the influence of one of the most heady wines of the country would have sufficed to explain the soundness of her sleep; when she woke darkness was coming on.
Her first care was to give a glance at her patient; his sleep was restless, and he was dreaming aloud.
"Diamonds," he said; "those diamonds?
At my death, but not before." "Gracious!" thought Madame Cardinal, "that was the one thing lacking,--diamonds! that he should have diamonds!" Then, as Toupillier seemed to be in the grasp of a violent nightmare, she leaned over him so as not to lose a word of his speech, hoping to gather from it some important revelation.

At this moment a slight rap given to the door, from which the careful nurse had removed the key, announced the arrival of Cerizet.
"Well ?" he said, on entering.
"He has taken the drug.

He's been sound asleep these two hours; just now, in dreaming, he was talking of diamonds." "Well," said Cerizet, "it wouldn't be surprising if we found some.