Tne boy slipped, with the doctor, into the sick-room, and as no one
paid any attention to him, he stole softly into his room, crouched
down upon his straw bed, with fluttering heart, to think over all he
had experienced or dreamed of that day.
"And how is it with our sick one to-day?" asked Doctor Naudin,
sitting down near the bed, and giving a friendly nod to Simon to do
the same.
"It goes badly with me," moaned Mistress Simon. "My heart seems to
be on fire, and I have no rest day or night. I believe that it is
all over with me, and that I shall die, and that is the best thing
for me, for then I shall be free again, and not have to endure the
torments that I have had to undergo in this dreadful dungeon."
"What kind of pains are they?" asked the doctor. "Where do you
suffer?"
"I will tell you, citizen doctor," cried Simon, impatiently. "Her
pains are everywhere, in every corner of this lonely and cursed
building; and if it goes on so long, we shall have to pack and move.
The authorities have done us both a great honor, for they have had
confidence enough in us to give the little Capet into our charge;
but it is our misfortune to be so honored, and we shall both die of
it. For, not to make a long story of it, we both cannot endure the
air of the prison, the stillness and solitude, and it is a dreadful
thing for us to see nothing else the whole day than the stupid face
of this youngster, always looking at me so dreadfully with his great
blue eyes, that it really affects one.
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