DRABBLE : patient

They will all say: Marguerite Gautier died alone, but it will be a lie.

Marguerite coughs up blood, Nanina bringing wet cloths to wipe her forehead with. It's a careful act, becoming ceremonial in its repetitiveness. She lifts Marguerite's head, presses the cloth to her face - her cheeks and her dry lips; relief from the fever burning in her veins. Marguerite grasps for her hands, blindly and doesn't see Nanina's smile, because it disappears quickly again as soon as it is Armand's name that Marguerite calls.

They say: Marguerite Gautier died alone and perhaps she did, but Nanina was there.