The nurse was not to be persuaded; she thought they were getting ready to scold her. "Humph," she said, "that"s a fine thing--the doctors! If they couldn"t always find something wrong you"d say they didn"t know their business."
"But our doctor is a great doctor; and you have seen yourself that our child has some little pimples."
"Ah, ma"am," said the nurse, "that"s the heat--it"s nothing but the heat of the blood breaking out. You don"t need to bother yourself; I tell you it"s only the child"s blood. It"s not my fault; I swear to you that she had not lacked anything, and that I have always kept her proper."
"I am not reproaching you--"
"What is there to reproach me for? Oh, what bad luck! She"s tiny--the little one--she"s a bit feeble; but Lord save us, she"s a city child!
And she"s getting along all right, I tell you."
"No," persisted Madame Dupont, "I tell you--she has got a cold in her head, and she has an eruption at the back of the throat."
"Well," cried the nurse, angrily, "if she has, it"s because the doctor scratched her with that spoon he put into her mouth wrong end first! A cold in the head? Yes, that"s true; but if she has caught cold, I can"t say when, I don"t know anything about it--nothing, nothing at all. I have always kept her well covered; she"s always had as much as three covers on her. The truth is, it was when you came, the time before last; you were all the time insisting upon opening the windows in the house!"
"But once more I tell you," cried Madame Dupont, "we are not putting any blame on you."
"Yes," cried the woman, more vehemently. "I know what that kind of talk means. It"s no use--when you"re a poor country woman."
"What are you imagining now?" demanded the other.
"Oh, that"s all right. It"s no use when you"re a poor country woman."
"I repeat to you once more," cried Madame Dupont, with difficulty controlling her impatience, "we have nothing whatever to blame you for."
But the nurse began to weep. "If I had known that anything like this was coming to me--"
"We have nothing to blame you for," declared the other. "We only wish to warn you that you might possibly catch the disease of the child."
The woman pouted. "A cold in the head!" she exclaimed. "Well, if I catch it, it won"t be the first time. I know how to blow my nose."
"But you might also get the pimples."
At this the nurse burst into laughter so loud that the bric-a-brac rattled. "Oh, oh, oh! Dear lady, let me tell you, we ain"t city folks, we ain"t; we don"t have such soft skins. What sort of talk is that?
Pimples--what difference would that make to poor folks like us? We don"t have a white complexion like the ladies of Paris. We are out all day in the fields, in the sun and the rain, instead of rubbing cold cream on our muzzles! No offense, ma"am--but I say if you"re looking for an excuse to get rid of me, you must get a better one than that."
"Excuse!" exclaimed the other. "What in the world do you mean?"
"Oh, I know!" said the nurse, nodding her head.
"But speak!"
"It"s no use, when you"re only a poor country woman."
"I don"t understand you! I swear to you that I don"t understand you!"
"Well," sneered the other, "I understand."
"But then--explain yourself."
"No, I don"t want to say it."
"But you must; I wish it."
"Well--"
"Go ahead."
"I"m only a poor country woman, but I am no more stupid than the others, for all that. I know perfectly well what your tricks mean. Mr. George here has been grumbling because you promised me thirty francs more a month, if I came to Paris." And then, turning upon the other, she went on--"But, sir, isn"t it only natural? Don"t I have to put my own child away somewheres else? And then, can my husband live on his appet.i.te?
We"re nothing but poor country people, we are."
"You are making a mistake, nurse," broke in George. "It is nothing at all of that sort; mother is quite right. I am so far from wanting to reproach you, that, on the contrary, I think she had not promised enough, and I want to make you, for my part, another promise. When you go away, when baby is old enough to be weaned, by way of thanking you, we wish to give you--"
Madame Dupont broke in, hurriedly, "We wish to give you,--over and above your wages, you understand--we wish to give you five hundred francs, and perhaps a thousand, if the little one is altogether in good health. You understand?"
The nurse stared at her, stupefied. "You will give me five hundred francs--for myself?" She sought to comprehend the words. "But that was not agreed, you don"t have to do that at all."
"No," admitted Madame Dupont.
"But then," whispered the nurse, half to herself, "that"s not natural."
"Yes," the other hurried on, "it is because the baby will have need of extra care. You will have to take more trouble; you will have to give it medicines; your task will be a little more delicate, a little more difficult."
"Oh, yes; then it"s so that I will be sure to take care of her? I understand."
"Then it"s agreed?" exclaimed Madame Dupont, with relief.
"Yes ma"am," said the nurse.
"And you won"t come later on to make reproaches to us? We understand one another clearly? We have warned you that the child is sick and that you could catch the disease. Because of that, because of the special need of care which she has, we promise you five hundred francs at the end of the nursing. That"s all right, is it?
"But, my lady," cried the nurse, all her cupidity awakened, "you spoke just now of a thousand francs."
"Very well, then, a thousand francs."
George pa.s.sed behind the nurse and got his mother by the arm, drawing her to one side. "It would be a mistake," he whispered, "if we did not make her sign an agreement to all that."
His mother turned to the nurse. "In order that there may be no misunderstanding about the sum--you see how it is, I had forgotten already that I had spoken of a thousand francs--we will draw up a little paper, and you, on your part, will write one for us."
"Very good, ma"am," said the nurse, delighted with the idea of so important a transaction. "Why, it"s just as you do when you rent a house!"
"Here comes the doctor," said the other. "Come, nurse, it is agreed?"
"Yes, ma"am," was the answer. But all the same, as she went out she hesitated and looked sharply first at the doctor, and then at George and his mother. She suspected that something was wrong, and she meant to find out if she could.
The doctor seated himself in George"s office chair, as if to write a prescription. "The child"s condition remains the same," he said; "nothing disturbing."
"Doctor," said Madame Dupont, gravely, "from now on, you will be able to devote your attention to the baby and the nurse without any scruple.
During your absence we have arranged matters nicely. The nurse has been informed about the situation, and she does not mind. She has agreed to accept an indemnity, and the amount has been stated."