And every time she recognized a little circumstance, a little trait, one of those nothings which cause such exquisite bliss, one of those disquieting surprises which cause the heart to beat fast, and of which Paul was so prodigal when he loved, Christiane, as she lay prostrate in the bed, gave utterance to a little "Ah!" expressive of keen suffering.
Amazed at this strange exclamation, Madame Honorat declared more emphatically: "Why, yes. 'Tis as I tell you, exactly as I tell you. I never saw a man so much in love!"
"I believe so indeed, Madame, and very pretty ones, too!"
And, when they had relapsed into silence, nothing more could be heard save the monotonous and soothing song of the nurse as she rocked the baby to sleep in the adjoining room.
Steps were drawing near in the corridor outside. Doctors Mas-Roussel and Latonne had come to visit their patient. They found her agitated, not quite so well as she had been on the previous day.
When they had left, Andermatt opened the door again, and without coming in: "Doctor Black would like to see you. Will you see him?"
She exclaimed, as she raised herself up in the bed: "No--no--I will not--no!"
William came over to her, looking quite astounded: "But listen to me now--it would only be right--it is his due--you ought to!"
She looked, with her wide-open eyes and quivering lips, as if she had lost her reason. She kept repeating in a piercing voice, so loud that it must have penetrated through the walls: "No!--no!--never!" And then, no longer knowing what she said, and pointing with outstretched arm toward Madame Honorat, who was standing in the center of the apartment:
"I do not want her either!--send her away!--I don't want to see her!--send her away!"
Then he rushed to his wife's side, took her in his arms, and kissed her on the forehead: "My little Christiane, be calm! What is the matter with you?--come now, be calm!"
She had by this time lost the power of raising her voice. The tears gushed from her eyes.
"Send them all away," said she, "and remain alone with me!"
He went across, in a distracted frame of mind, to the doctor's wife, and gently pushing her toward the door: "Leave us for a few minutes, pray. It is the fever--the milk-fever. I will calm her. I will look for you again by and by."