Still Caius did not tell about his
adventure of the night before. The lady looked preoccupied, as if she
was thinking about the Angel of Death that was hovering over the cottage
they had left.
The next house was a large one, and here two children were ill. They
were well cared for, for two of the young girls whom he had seen in
Madame Le Maitre's house were there for the time to nurse them.
They took one of these damsels with them when they went on. She was
willing to walk, but Caius set her upon his horse and led it; in this
way they made quicker progress. Up a hill they went, and over fields,
and in a small house upon a windy slope they found the mother of a
family lying very ill. Here, after Caius had said all that there was to
say, and Madame Le Maitre, with skilful hands, had done all that she
could do in a short time, they left the young girl.
At the next and last house of their round, where the day before one
child had been ill, they now found three tossing and crying with pain
and fever. When it was time for them to go, Caius saw his companion
silently wring her hands at the thought of leaving them, for the mother,
worn out and very ignorant, was the only nurse. It did not seem that it
could be helped. Caius went out to his horse, and Madame Le Maitre to
hers, but he saw her stand beside it as if too absent in mind to spring
to its back; her face was looking up into the blue above.
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