"Aren't you afraid you'll stick yourself, Ma'm'selle? I've got my
needle in that hand," she said playfully. "But you did not mean what
you said just now, did you?"
"What did I say?"
"That it would be better not to love your children with all your
heart, on account of the great anxiety. Don't you know such thoughts
are wicked? When they come into your head your mind wants purifying.
But I'm sure I beg your pardon for saying so."
"You are entirely right, Louise," I returned.
"Ah! so I thought. And now let me see. Let's fix this ruche; pull it
to the left a little, please."
"But about the sick boy. Tell me about his recovery."
"That was a miracle--I ought to say two miracles. It was a miracle
that God restored him to us, and a miracle to find anybody with so
much knowledge and feeling,--such talent, such a tender heart, and so
much, so much--! I'm speaking of the doctor. A famous one he was, too,
you must know; for it was no less than Doctor Faron. Heaven knows how
he is run after, and how rich and celebrated he is! Aren't you
surprised to hear that it was he who attended _our_ little boy?
Indeed, the wonders begin with that. You may imagine my husband was at
his wits' end when he saw how it was with the child; and all of a
sudden I saw him jump up, get out his best coat and hat, and put them
on.
"'Where are you going' I asked.
"'To bring Doctor Faron.'
"Why, if he had said, 'To bring the Prime Minister,' it would have
seemed as likely.
"'Don't you believe Doctor Faron is going to trouble himself about
such as we. They will turn you out of doors.'
"But 'twas no use talking, my dear. He was already on the stairs, and
I heard him running away as if the house was on fire. Fire, indeed;
worse, far worse than any fire!
"And there I was, left alone with the child upon my knees. He wouldn't
stay in bed, and was quieter so, wrapped up in his little blanket.
'Here will he die,' I thought. 'Soon will his eyes close, and then it
will be all over;' and I held my own breath to listen to his feeble
and oppressed pantings.
"About an hour had passed, when I heard a rapid step upon the stairs
(we are poor, and live in attic rooms). The door opened, and my
husband came in, wet with perspiration and out of breath. If I live a
century, I'll not forget his look when he said:--
"'Well?'
"I answered, 'No worse. But the doctor?'
"'He's coming.'
"Oh, those blessed words! It actually seemed as if my child were saved
already. If you but knew how folks love their little ones! I kissed
the darling, I kissed his father, I laughed, I cried, and I no longer
felt the faintest doubt. It is by God's mercy that such gleams of hope
are sent to strengthen us in our trials. It was very foolish, too; for
something might easily have prevented the doctor's coming, after all.
"'You found him at home, then?' I asked my husband.
"Then he told me in an undertone what he had done, stopping every now
and then to wipe his face and gather breath.
* * * * *
"My husband had scarcely uttered these words," continued Louise, "when
I heard a step on the stairs. It was he! it was that blessed angel of
a doctor, come to help us in our sore distress.
"And what do you think he said in his deep voice when he got into the
room?
"God bless you, my friends, but I nearly broke my neck on those
stairs. Where's that child?"
"'Here he is, my dear, darling doctor.' I knew no better way to speak
to him, with his dress cravat showing over his greatcoat, and his
decorations dangling like a little bunch of keys at his buttonhole.
"He took off his wrappings, stooped over the child, turned him over,
more gently even than his mother could have done, and laid his own
head first against his back, then against his breast. How I tried to
read his eyes! but they know how to hide their thoughts.
"'We must perform an operation here,' says he; 'and it is high time.'
"Just at this moment the hospital doctor came in, and whispered to
him, 'I'm afraid you didn't want to be disturbed, sir.'
"'Oh, never mind. I am sorry it wasn't sooner, though. Get everything
ready now.'
"But Ma'm'selle Adele, why should I tell you all this? I'd better mind
my work."
"Oh, go on, Louise, go on!"
"Well then, Ma'm'selle, if you believe me, those two doctors--neither
of 'em kin, or even friends till then--went to work and made all the
preparations, while my husband went off to borrow lights. The biggest
one tied a mattress on the table, and the assistant spread out the
bright little knives.
"You who have not been through it all, Ma'm'selle, can't know what it
is to have your own little one in your lap, to know that those things
are to be used upon him to pierce his tender flesh, and if the hand
that guides them be not sure, that they may kill him.
"When all was ready, Doctor Faron took off his cravat, then lifted my
child from my arms and laid him on the mattress, in the midst of the
lamps, and said to my poor man:--
"'You will hold his head, and your wife his feet. Joseph will pass me
the instruments. You've brought a breathing-tube with you, my son?'
"'Yes, sir.'
"My husband was as white as a sheet by this; and when I saw him about
to take his place with his hands shaking so much, it scared me, so I
said:--
"'Doctor, please let me hold his head!"
"'But my poor woman, if you should tremble?'
"'Please let me do it, doctor!'
"'Be it so, then;' and then added with a bright look at me, and a
cheering smile, 'we shall save him for you, my dear; you are a brave
little woman and you deserve it.'
"Yes, and save him he did! God bless him! saved him as truly as if he
had snatched him from the depths of the river."
"And you didn't tremble, Louise?"
"You may depend on that. If I had, it would have been the last of my
child."
"How in the world did you keep yourself steady?"
"The Lord knows; but I was like a rock. When you must, you must, I
suppose."
"And you had to behold every detail of that operation?"
"Yes, indeed; and often have I dreamed it over since. His poor little
neck laid open, and the veins, which the doctor pushed aside with his
fingers, and the little silver tube which he inserted, and all that;
and then the face of the child, changing as the air passed into his
lungs. You've seen a lamp almost out, when you pour in oil? It was
like that. They had laid him there but half alive, with his eyes all
but set; and they gave him back to me, pale and with bloodless lips,
it is true, but with life in his looks, and breathing--breathing the
free, fresh air.
"'Kiss him, mother,' says the doctor, 'and put him to bed. Cover the
place with some light thing or other, and Joseph must stay with you
to-night; won't you, Joseph? Ah, well, that's all arranged.'
"He put on his things and wrapped himself up to go. He was shaking
hands with my husband, when I seized one hand, and kissed it--like a
fool, as I was; but I didn't stop to think. He laughed heartily, and
said to my husband, 'Are you not jealous, friend? Your wife is making
great advances to me. But I must be off now. Good night, good people.'
"And from that night he always talks so friendly and familiarly to us,
not a bit contemptuously either, but as if he liked us, and was glad
to be of service to us."