ould never have
been able to do any work.'

"At that moment, however, a deep groan made me look round, and I said:

"'What is the matter with you, my dear?'

"She did not reply, but continued to utter painful sighs, as if she were
suffering horribly, and I continued:

"'Do you feel ill?' And suddenly she uttered a cry, a heartrending cry,
and I rushed up to the bed, with a candle in my hand.

"Her face was distorted with pain, and she was wringing her hands,
panting and uttering long, deep groans, which sounded like a rattle in
the throat, and which are so painful to hear, and I asked her in
consternation:

"'What is the matter with you? Do tell me what is the matter.'

"'Oh! my stomach! my stomach!' she said. I pulled up the bed-clothes, and
I saw ... My friends, she was in labor.

"Then I lost my head, and I ran and knocked at the wall with my fists,
shouting: 'Help! help!'

"My door was opened almost immediately, and a crowd of people came in,
men in evening dress, women in low necks, harlequins, Turks, Musketeers,
and this inroad startled me so, that I could not explain myself, and
they, who had thought that some accident had happened, or that a crime
had been committed, could not understand what was the matter. At last,
however, I managed to say:

"'This ... this ... woman ... is being confined.'

"Then they looked at her, and gave their opinion, and a Friar,
especially, declared that he knew all about it, and wished to assist
nature, but as they were all as drunk as pigs, I was afraid that they
would kill her, and I rushed downstairs without my hat, to fetch an old
doctor, who lived in the next street. When I came back with him, the
whole house was up; the gas on the stairs had been relighted, the lodgers
from every floor were in my room, while four boatmen were finishing my
champagne and lobsters.

"As soon as they saw me they raised a loud shout, and a milkmaid
presented me with a horrible little wrinkled specimen of humanity, that
was mewing like a cat, and said to me:

"'It is a girl.'

"The doctor examined the woman, declared that she was in a dangerous
state, as the event had occurred immediately after supper, and he took
his leave, saying he would immediately send a sick nurse and a wet nurse,
and an hour later, the two women came, bringing all that was requisite
with them.

"I spent the night in my armchair, too distracted to be able to think of
the consequences, and almost as soon as i