"As you are there.

You did not steal it." "No--I did not steal it," I answered quietly, for there was a look in his face that I did not understand, while it frightened me.

Suddenly his eyes shot red--his face was almost black.

He fell forward into my arms, and I tore his collar off as I laid him to the ground.
"Ah, mon Dieu, mon Dieu!" the Vicomte was crying as he ran hither and thither, wringing his hands, while I attended, unskillfully enough, to the stricken man.

"Ah, mon Dieu! what is this ?" "It is death," I answered, with my hand inside the Baron's shirt.