"'Well, quite well!' she replied, 'only the sheet weighs so heavily upon me!'
"It was the lightest I had been able to find. I told her so; then she sighed and said she knew she was a fidget, and I was to have patience with her.
"And then she lay again quite still, and constantly looked at me as if in a dream. At length she nodded several times and remarked: 'It is well thus--quite well!'
"'What is well?" I asked.
"Then she smiled again and was silent. And then the pains returned. She shook all over and clenched her teeth, but she did not utter a complaint.
"'Shall I call for Robert?' I asked, for terror overwhelmed me anew.
"She nodded. 'And bring the child too,' she murmured.
"I did as she had bid. She had the little creature laid on the bed beside her, and looked down at it for a long time. She also made an attempt to kiss it, but she was too weak to do so.
"Even before Robert came she had relapsed into her sleep.
"He gave me a reproachful look, and remarked, 'Why did you not send for me sooner?'