212 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



and rattling purr. On the day of his death he was 

 lying panting upon his side, when suddenly, and as 

 though by a supreme effort, he arose and staggered 

 weakly towards me. His great eyes were wide- 

 stretched, and raised to mine with a look of agonized 

 supplication, as though they said : ' Save me, save 

 me, you who are a man ! ' Then they glazed ; he 

 took a few faltering steps and fell down, uttering 

 a cry so lamentable and full of anguish that I stood 

 staring, dumb and horror-stricken, at his little 

 corpse. He was buried in the garden under a white 

 rose-tree which still marks his grave. Three years 

 later, Seraphita died, and was laid by his side. 

 With her the White Dynasty became extinct." 



Of the Black Dynasty which succeeded, Gautier 

 has much to say ; but he never evinces for its small 

 autocrats the same tenderness of affection lavished 

 upon Pierrot and Madame Th^ophile. Nature, in a 

 jesting mood, had bestowed on Seraphita and her 

 mate three kittens, black as ebony. To indifferent 

 eyes they looked as much alike as three ink-spots ; 

 but, from their earliest infancy, Gautier distin- 

 guished with ease the little faces, " sooty as Harle- 

 quin's mask, and lighted by discs of emerald with 

 golden gleams." These kittens offered striking con- 

 trasts of character and disposition. Enjolras was 

 solemn, pretentious, aldermanic from his cradle; 

 even theatrical at times in his vast assumption of 



