MME. DUPONT [_sitting down with an air of resignation_] Tell us what we must do. DOCTOR. Keep the nurse here as dry-nurse so that she may not carry the infection elsewhere. We will feed the child by hand, and I beg you in all sincerity not to exaggerate the danger that will result from the change. I have every hope of restoring the baby to health in a short space of time; and I assure you that I will use every possible effort to bring about a happy conclusion. I will call again to-morrow. Good-day. MME. DUPONT [_without moving_] Thank you, doctor. GEORGE [_going to the door and shaking hands_] Thank you, thank you. [_The doctor goes out. George comes back and goes to his mother with outstretched arms_] Mother! MME. DUPONT [_repulsing him_] Let me be. GEORGE [_checking himself_] Are we not unhappy enough, without hating one another? MME. DUPONT. It is God who visits upon your child the sins of its father. GEORGE [_raising his shoulders gloomily_] You believe that: when there is not a man alive so wicked and unjust as to commit such an act! MME. DUPONT. Oh, I know you believe in nothing. GEORGE. Not in that kind of God. _The nurse, who comes in by the left soon after the doctor has gone out, appears._ NURSE. If you please, ma’am, I’ve been thinking: I would rather go away at once and only have the five hundred francs. MME. DUPONT. What do you say? You want to leave us? NURSE. Yes, ma’am. GEORGE. But ten minutes ago you didn’t want to. MME. DUPONT. What has happened? NURSE. I’ve been thinking. MME. DUPONT. Thinking! About what? NURSE. Well, I want to go back to my baby and my husband. GEORGE. But ten minutes ago—there must be something else. MME. DUPONT. Evidently there is something else. NURSE. No, ma’am. MME. DUPONT. But there must be! NURSE. Well then, I’m afraid that Paris doesn’t suit me. MME. DUPONT. How can you tell without waiting to try? NURSE. I’d rather go back home at once. MME. DUPONT. At least tell us why. NURSE. I have told you. I’ve been thinking. MME. DUPONT. What about? NURSE. I’ve been thinking. MME. DUPONT. Oh, don’t say that over and over again! ’I’ve been thinking, I’ve been thinking.’ What have you been thinking about? NURSE. About everything. MME. DUPONT. Can’t you tell us about what? NURSE. I tell you: about everything. MME. DUPONT. Idiot! GEORGE [_stepping in front of his mother_] Let me speak to her. NURSE. I know we’re only poor country folk. GEORGE. Listen to me, nurse. Just now you were not only satisfied with your wages, but you were afraid we were going to send you away. In addition to your wages we have promised to give you a large sum of money at the end of your time here—and now you want to leave us, at once! Come now, you must have some sort of reason. Has anyone been doing anything to you? NURSE. No, sir. GEORGE. Well then? NURSE. I’ve been thinking.