And he lay stark and pallid in the
moonlight, close to the brother he had never known till the last
hour of life had revealed the bond of blood between them. Side by
side they lay,--strangely alike in death,--men to whom the
possibilities of noble living had been abundantly given, and who had
wasted all their substance on vanity. For Victor Miraudin, despite
his genius and the brilliancy of his art, was not likely to be
longer remembered or mourned than the Marquis Fontenelle. The fame
of the actor is even less than that of the great noble,--the actor's
name is but a bubble on the air which a breath disperses,--and the
heir to a proud house is only remembered by the flattering
inscription on his tombstone. Forgotten Caesars, greater than any
living monarch, had mixed their bones with the soil where these two
sons of one father lay dead,--the bright moon was their sanctuary
lamp,--the stars their funeral torches,--the width of the Campagna
their bier, and the heavens their pall. And when the two terrified
witnesses of the fatal fight realised the position, and saw that
both combatants had truly perished, there were no regrets, no
lamentations, no prayers, no thought of going for assistance. With
the one selfish idea uppermost,--that of escaping immediate trouble-
-Jeanne Richaud rallied her scattered wits, and dragging the praying
and gesticulating cab-driver up from his knees, she bade him mount
his box and drive her back to the city.
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