Well, so far as I am concerned, I certainly would not go. I should be too much afraid of the shock. MME. FLACHE But Doctor Pellerin asserts that the man will come. LA BABIN Do you know this physician well? MME. FLACHE Who, Doctor Pellerin? LA BABIN Yes; he has the air of a charming man of the world. MME. FLACHE Oh, yes; he is all that, but he is also a good physician. Then he is such good company, and has such a smooth tongue. And you know he is not physician to the Opera for nothing. LA BABIN That little puppy of a-- MME. FLACHE A puppy! You don't very often find puppies among men of his caliber, and then,-oh, how he used to love the girls! Oh, oh! Although, for the matter of that, there are many physicians who are like him. It was at the Opera that I first met him. LA BABIN At the Opera! MME. FLACHE Yes, at the Opera. You know, I was a dancer there for eight years. Yes, indeed, even I--just as you see me, a dancer at the Opera. LA BABIN You, Madame Flache! MME. FLACHE Yes, my mother was a midwife, and taught me the business at the same time that she taught me dancing, because she always said it was well to have two strings to your bow. Dancing, you see, is all very well, provided you are not too ambitious of appearing on first nights, but, unhappily, that was the case with me. I was as slender as a thread when I was twenty, and very agile, but I grew fat and scant of breath, and became rather heavy in my steps; so when my mother died, as I had my diploma as a midwife, I took her apartment and her business, and I added the title of “Midwife to the Opera,” for all their business comes to me. They like me very much there. When I was dancing, they used to call me Mademoiselle Flacchi the première. LA BABIN Then you have been married since then? MME. FLACHE No, but a woman in my profession should always assume the title of Madame for the sake of its dignity. You know, it gives confidence. But, how about you, nurse, from what place do you come? You know, you have only just come here, and nobody consulted me about engaging you. LA BABIN I am from Yvetot. MME. FLACHE Is this your first engagement as a nurse? LA BABIN No, my third. I have had two daughters and a little boy. MME. FLACHE And your husband, is he a farmer or a gardener? LA BABIN [_Simply_] I am not married. MME. FLACHE [_laughing_] Not married, and with three children! Upon my word, let me compliment you; you are indeed precocious. LA BABIN Don't talk about it; it was not my will. It is the good God who does these things. One cannot prevent it. MME. FLACHE How simple you are! Now you will probably have a fourth child. LA BABIN That's very possible. MME. FLACHE Well, what does your lover do? What is his business? Or perhaps you have more than one? LA BABIN [_with indignation_] There has never been more than one. I give you my word, upon my hope of salvation. He is a lemonade-seller at Yvetot. MME. FLACHE Is he a handsome fellow? LA BABIN