thy girl
from thee, thou didst knock him down and give him a black eye! Common
brawler, disturber of the peace! It was all due to the wine, the good
wine, which made thee value the girl far above her worth! It was the
wine! The wine! And every time an attempt is made in the Chamber to
abolish drinking the good wine of France, there is violent opposition.
Opposition from whom? From the old _boulevardier_ whose money is
invested in the vineyards--the very man who casts covetous eyes upon thy
Mimi! So thou goest to jail, then to the _Bataillon d'Afrique_, and the
wine flows, and thy Mimi--where is she? Only never canst thou receive
the _Croix de Guerre_, my friend--_La Patrie Reconnaissante_ sees to
that!"

Marius shouted with laughter--he knew himself so near death, and it was
good to be able to say all that was in his heart. An orderly approached
him, one of the six young men attached as male nurses to the ward.

"Ha! Thou bidst me be quiet, _sale embusque_?" he taunted. "I will shout
louder than the guns! And hast thou ever heard the guns, nearer than
this safe point behind the lines? Thou art here doing woman's work!
Caring for me, nursing me! And what knowledge dost thou bring to thy
task, thou ignorant grocer's clerk? Surely thou hast some powerful
friend, who got thee mobilized as _infirmier_--a woman's task--instead
of a simple soldier like me, doing his duty in the trenches!"

Marius raised himself in bed, which the _infirmier_ knew, because the
doctor had told him, was not a right position for a man who has a wound
in his stomach, some thirty centimetres in length. Marius, however, was
strong in his delirium, so the _infirmier_ called another to help him
throw the patient upon his back. Soon three were called, to hold the
struggling man down.

Marius resigned himself. "Summon all six of you!" he shouted. "All six
of you! And what do you know about illness such as mine? You, a grocer's
clerk! You, barber! You, _cultivateur_! You, driver of the boat train
from Paris to Cherbourg! You, agent of the Gas Society of Paris! You,
driver of a Paris taxi, such as myself! Yet here you all are, in your
wisdom, your experience, to nurse me! Mobilized as nurses because you
are friend of a friend of a deputy! Whilst I, who know no deputy, am
mobilized in the first line trenches! _Sales embusques! Sales
embusques! La Patrie Reconnaissante!_"

He laid upon his back a little while, quiet. He was very delirious, and
the end c