The Hated Son

The Hated Son

On a winters night, about two in the morning, the Comtesse Jeanne dHerouville felt such violent pains that in spite of her inexperience, she was conscious of an approaching confinement; and the instinct which makes us hope for ease in a change of posture induced her to sit up in her bed, either to study the nature of these new sufferings, or to reflect on her situation. She was a prey to cruel fears,caused less by the dread of a first lying-in, which terrifies most women, than by certain dangers which awaited her child. In order not to awaken her husband who was sleeping beside her, the poor woman moved with precautions which her intense terror made as minute as those of a prisoner endeavoring to escape. Though the pains became more and more severe, she ceased to feel them, so completely did she concentrate her own strength on the painful effort of resting her two moist hands on the pillow and so turning her suffering body from a posture in which she could find no ease. At the slightest rustling of the huge green silk coverlet, under which she had slept but little since her marriage, she stopped as though she had rung a bell. Forced to watch the count, she divided her attention between the folds of the rustling stuff and a large swarthy face, the moustache of which was brushing her shoulder. When some noisier breath than usual left her husbands lips, she was filled with a sudden terror that revived the color driven from her cheeks by her double anguish. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 1455
Author: Balzac, Honoré de
Release Date: Oct 31, 2004
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Translator: Wormeley, Katharine Prescott, 1830-1908