But with that poor little Maurice, the merest trifle, such as four
cherries instead of three, provokes indigestion. Well, so it is settled,
I will drive you back to the works. Only I must first make a call in the
Rue Roquepine to choose a nurse. It won't take me long, I hope. Quick!
let us be off."
When they were together in the brougham, Boutan told Mathieu that it was
precisely for the Seguins that he was going to the nurse-agency. There
was a terrible time at the house in the Avenue d'Antin. A few months
previously Valentine had given birth to a daughter, and her husband had
obstinately resolved to select a fit nurse for the child himself,
pretending that he knew all about such matters. And he had chosen a big,
sturdy young woman of monumental appearance. Nevertheless, for two months
past Andree, the baby, had been pining away, and the doctor had
discovered, by analyzing the nurse's milk, that it was deficient in
nutriment. Thus the child was simply perishing of starvation. To change a
nurse is a terrible thing, and the Seguins' house was in a tempestuous
state. The husband rushed hither and thither, banging the doors and
declaring that he would never more occupy himself about anything.
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