Page:Stories by Foreign Authors (French II).djvu/144

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THE SEMPSTRESS' STORY.
139

child came before my eyes. I pushed open the door, and in I went.

"'That won't do,' I said. 'One of the hospital doctors sent me here, and I must know where to find your master, and quick, too.'

"Seeing that I wouldn't stand trifling, he gave me the direction, and growled, 'Now clear out, and shut that door.'

"So I rushed away to the Rue de Lille. The courtyard was full of carriages, and the windows all in a blaze of light; but in I went, for all that.

"'My boy will die!—my boy will die!' I kept repeating, as I elbowed through the people. An old servant stopped me in the ante-chamber. 'Where now?' says he.

"'I want to speak to Doctor Faron,' says I; 'I must speak to him. Get him to come out here, won't you, please?'

"The old fellow looked at me hard, and then said very kindly, 'Sit down there an instant, and I'll try.'

"What possessed me to sit there and cry, with all those servants hurrying about with plates and dishes, I can't tell; but I could n't help it.

"In a minute or so, here comes a large gentleman with a white cravat on. 'Where's the man that wants me?' he asks in a gruff voice. Then seeing me there in the corner in such a state, with a searching look at me, he took the note,