Her letter concluded, Madame Bastien ordered the horse harnessed so the letter could be taken to Blois at once.
After satisfying herself several times in regard to the condition of her son, who seemed to be resting more quietly, Madame Bastien sat down and began to reflect upon the determination to travel that she had just announced to her husband, and found it more and more opportune, though she asked herself anxiously how she should manage to prevent Frederick from getting out of her sight for a moment until the time appointed for their departure. The little clock on the mantel had just struck twelve, and the young mother was still absorbed in the same sorrowful reflections, when she fancied she heard the quick ring of a horse's hoofs in the distance, and the sound came nearer and nearer, until the animal paused at the door of the farmhouse.
A few minutes afterward an unwonted bustle pervaded the dwelling and some one rapped at the door of Madame Bastien's chamber.
"Who is there?" she asked.
"I, Marguerite, madame."
"What do you want?"
"Doctor Dufour is here, madame. He just arrived on horseback."
"Light a fire in the sitting-room and ask the doctor to wait for me there. I will be down in a moment."
Then, recollecting that she would be obliged to leave her son, Madame Bastien recalled the servant, and said:
"I have changed my mind. I will see the doctor here in my room. Show him up at once."