Don't be alarmed, there won't be any cutting done; nature is about to
speak.--(_To his wife._) Give me my soup; I'm hungry.--The mighty
Solomon, looking at the two mothers with Argus eyes, says to
himself--(_To his wife._) In God's name, why don't you get through with
the onions?--"This child cannot have two mothers; if it was two fathers,
that might be, such things have been seen."--(_To his wife._) You know
something about that.--"Now, there's a snake in the grass here; the real
mother's affection manifests itself by a deluge of tears; but this other
vixen of a mother, who's as placid as Baptiste,"--(_To his wife._) It
smells as if it was burned.--"has no maternal entrails; so the case is
decided!"--Pull the cord.--"This, messieurs and mesdames, represents
King David doing battle with the giant Goliath, the terror of the
Philistines."--(_To his wife._) Why don't you look and see if it's
right?--See with what force David hurls the stone that lays the giant in
the dust.
MADAME TROUSQUIN. (_looking over the lantern_).
This ain't the one; you're showing 'em the Battle of Marengo now.