because the baby will have need of
extra care. You will have to take more trouble; you will have to give
it medicines; your task will be a little more delicate, a little more
difficult."

"Oh, yes; then it's so that I will be sure to take care of her? I
understand."

"Then it's agreed?" exclaimed Madame Dupont, with relief.

"Yes ma'am," said the nurse.

"And you won't come later on to make reproaches to us? We understand one
another clearly? We have warned you that the child is sick and that you
could catch the disease. Because of that, because of the special need of
care which she has, we promise you five hundred francs at the end of the
nursing. That's all right, is it?

"But, my lady," cried the nurse, all her cupidity awakened, "you spoke
just now of a thousand francs."

"Very well, then, a thousand francs."

George passed behind the nurse and got his mother by the arm, drawing
her to one side. "It would be a mistake," he whispered, "if we did not
make her sign an agreement to all that."

His mother turned to the nurse. "In order that there may be no
misunderstanding about the sum--you see how it is, I had forgotten
already that I had spoken of a thousand francs--we will draw up a little
paper, and you, on your part, will write one for us."

"Very good, ma'am," said the nurse, delighted with the idea of so
important a transaction. "Why, it's just as you do when you rent a
house!"

"Here comes the doctor," said the other. "Come, nurse, it is agreed?"

"Yes, ma'am," was the answer. But all the same, as she went out she
hesitated and looked sharply first at the doctor, and then at George
and his mother. She suspected that something was wrong, and she meant to
find out if she could.

The doctor seated himself in George's office chair, as if to write
a prescription. "The child's condition remains the same," he said;
"nothing disturbing."

"Doctor," said Madame Dupont, gravely, "from now on, you will be able
to devote your attention to the baby and the nurse without any scruple.
During your absence we have arranged matters nicely. The nurse has been
informed about the situation, and she does not mind. She has agreed to
accept an indemnity, and the amount has been stated."

But the doctor did not take these tidings as the other had hoped he
might. He replied: "The malady which the nurse will almost inevitably
contract in feeding the child is too grave in its consequences. Such
consequences might go as