yellow as a lemon

''Be quick and come, M. Derville,' said he, 'the governor is just going to hand in his checks; he has grown as yellow as a lemon; he is fidgeting to speak with you; death has fair hold of him; the rattle is working in his throat.''

'Honor' de Balzac (1799'1850), from the short story Gobseck, 1830.