. Come, Madame, we
have not a moment to lose!' She started up, and I said: 'We must carry
him into the drawing-room.' And when we had done this, I placed him on a
sofa, and lit the chandeliers, and just then the front door was opened
and shut noisily. He had come back, and I said: Rose, bring me the basin
and the towels, and make the room look tidy. Make haste, for heaven's
sake! Monsieur Lelievre is coming in.'

"I heard his steps on the stairs, and then his hands feeling along the
walls. 'Come here, my dear fellow,' I said, 'we have had an accident.'

"And the astonished husband appeared in the door with a cigar in his
mouth, and said: 'What is the matter? What is the meaning of this?' 'My
dear friend,' I said, going up to him; 'you find us in great
embarrassment. I had remained late, chatting with your wife and our
friend, who had brought me in his carriage, when he suddenly fainted,
and in spite of all we have done, he has remained unconscious for two
hours. I did not like to call in strangers, and if you will now help me
downstairs with him, I shall be able to attend to him better at his own
house.'

"The husband, who was surprised, but quite unsuspicious, took off his
hat, and then he took his rival, who would be quite inoffensive for the
future, under his arms. I got between his two legs, as if I had been a
horse between the shafts, and we went downstairs, while his wife lighted
us. When we got outside, I held the body up, so as to deceive the
coachman, and said: 'Come, my friend; it is nothing; you feel better
already, I expect. Pluck up your courage, and make an attempt. It will
soon be over.' But as I felt that he was slipping out of my hands, I
gave him a slap on the shoulder, which sent him forward and made him
fall into the carriage, and then I got in after him. Monsieur Lelievre,
who was rather alarmed, said to me: 'Do you think it is anything
serious?' To which I replied, '_No_,' with a smile, as I looked at his
wife, who had put her arm into that of her legitimate husband, and was
trying to see into the carriage.

"I shook hands with them, and told my coachman to start, and during the
whole drive the dead man kept falling against me. When we got to his
house, I said that he had become unconscious on the way home, and helped
to carry him upstairs, where I certified that he was dead, and acted
another comedy to his distracted family, and at last I got back to bed,
not without swearing at lovers."

Th