“The hospital in Sauveterre,” says the guide book, “is, in spite of
its limited size, one of the best institutions of the kind in the
department. The chapel and the new additions were built at the expense
of the Countess de Maupaison, the widow of one of the ministers of Louis
Philippe.”
But what the guide book does not say is, that the hospital was endowed
with three free beds for pregnant women, by Mrs. Seneschal, or that the
two wings on both sides of the great entrance-gate have also been built
by her liberality. One of these wings, the one on the right, is used
by the janitor, a fine-looking old man, who formerly was beadle at the
cathedral, and who loves to think of the happy days when he added to the
splendor of the church by his magnificent presence, his red uniform, his
gold bandelaire, his halbert, and his gold-headed cane.
This janitor was, on Sunday morning, a little before eight o’clock,
smoking his pipe in the yard, when he saw Dr. Seignebos coming in. The
doctor was walking faster than usual, his hat over his face, and his
hands thrust deep into his pockets, evident signs of a storm. Instead of
coming, as he did every day before making the rounds, into the office
of the sister-druggist, he went straight up to the room of the lady
superior. There, after the usual salutations, he said,--
“They have no doubt brought you, my sister, last night, a patient, an
idiot, called Cocoleu?”
“Yes, doctor.”
“Where has he been put?”
“The mayor saw him himself put into the little room opposite the linen
room.”
“And how did he behave?”
“Perfectly well: the sister who kept the watch did not hear him stir.”
“Thanks, my sister!” said Dr. Seignebos.
He was already in the door, when the lady superior recalled him.
“Are you going to see the poor man, doctor?” she asked.
“Yes, my sister; why?”
“Because you cannot see him.”
“I cannot?”
“No. The commonwealth attorney has sent us orders not to let any one,
except the sister who nurses him, come near Cocoleu,--no one, doctor,
not even the physician, a case of urgency, of course, excepted.”