"What is the matter, Jeanne Marie?" he asked. "Have you pain? Are
you sick?"
"Yes," she said, "I am sick, I am in pain."
"I will go to bring you a physician, you shall not die! No, no, you
shall not die, you shall have a physician. The Hotel Dieu is very
near, they will certainly allow me to go as far as there, and bring
a doctor for my dear Jeanne."
He was on the point of hastening away, but Jeanne Marie held him
fast. "Remain here," she murmured, "do not let me be alone with him-
-I am afraid of him!"
"Of whom?" asked Simon, astonished; and as he followed the looks of
his wife, they rested on the boy, who was still busy in checking the
blood that was flowing freely from his swollen nose.
"Of him!" asked Simon, in amazement.
Jeanne Marie nodded. "Yes," she whispered, "I am afraid of him, and
I do not want to remain alone with him, for he would kill me." Simon
burst into a loud, hoarse laugh. "Now I see that you are really
sick, and the doctor shall come at once. But they certainly will not
let me leave this place, for this despicable brat has made us both
prisoners, the miserable, good-for-nothing thing!"
"Send him away; let him go into his own room," whispered Jeanne
Marie. "I cannot bear to see him; he poisons my blood. Send him
away, for I shall be crazy if I have to look at him longer.
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