With a shriek of terror the child threw herself back on the bed, covering her eyes with her hands, burying her face in the pillow.
Jeanne-Marie went to the top of the stairs and called "Jacques
Monnier!"
"Hein?" said the man, coming slowly to the door below, and standing with his broad figure framed in it.
"Jacques," said Jeanne-Marie, "go at once for the doctor, and tell him to come here, for some one is very ill."
"Hein?" said Jacques again, "does that concern me? I must attend to my own affairs, and finish my wine, Jeanne-Marie."
"If you do not go this moment," said the woman, with a little stamp of her foot, "you shall never taste my wine again, with or without payment, Jacques, et je tiens parole, moi!"
"There is other wine to be had in Le Trooz," answered the man sulkily, but moving nevertheless towards the entrance, when she was recalled by Jeanne-Marie.
"Jacques," she said, coming two or three steps down the stairs, "if Monsieur le Docteur inquires who is ill, you will say it is my niece."
"But she is then your niece, la petite," said Jacques, scratching his head as an outward expression of some inward perplexity.
"You will tell Monsieur le Docteur what I say," repeated Jeanne-Marie imperiously, "and make haste;" and she went upstairs again, and closed the bed-room with a certain emphasis, as though to prevent further discussion.