"He was the husband of my nurse," stammered Michel.
"There! you see," said Bertha, "you can't regard him as a stranger."
"I did offer to go back to the château with Rosine and give her the money to get a doctor."
"And she refused, preferring to come to us? Thank you, Rosine," said Bertha.
The young man was dumfounded. He had heard of charity, but he had never seen it; and here it was embodied in the form of Bertha. He followed the young girls thoughtfully, with his head down.
"If you are coming with us, Monsieur Michel," said Bertha, "be so kind as to carry this little box, which contains the medicines."
"No," said Rosine, "Monsieur le baron can't come with us, for he knows what a dread madame has of contagious diseases."
"You are mistaken, Rosine," said the young man; "I am going with you."
And he took the box from Bertha's hands. An hour later they all three reached the cottage of the sick man.