Nevertheless, remorse had set its fangs too sharply in Bettina's heart
not to force her to warn her sister. In the midst of her own
confessions she had preached duty and implicit obedience to Modeste.
On the evening of her death she implored her to remember the tears
that soaked her pillow, and not to imitate a conduct which even
suffering could not expiate. Bettina accused herself of bringing a
curse upon the family, and died in despair at being unable to obtain
her father's pardon. Notwithstanding the consolations which the
ministers of religion, touched by her repentance, freely gave her, she
cried in heartrending tones with her latest breath: "Oh father!
father!" "Never give your heart without your hand," she said to
Modeste an hour before she died; "and above all, accept no attentions
from any man without telling everything to papa and mamma."
These words, so earnest in their practical meaning, uttered in the
hour of death, had more effect upon Modeste than if Bettina had
exacted a solemn oath. The dying girl, farseeing as prophet, drew from
beneath her pillow a ring which she had sent by her faithful maid,
Francoise Cochet, to be engraved in Havre with these words, "Think of
Bettina, 1827," and placed it on her sister's finger, begging her to
keep it there until she married.
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