Exhausted though he was, the invalid gathered up all his strength to make a vehement gesture of denial.
"Do lie quiet; if you have, it won't prevent you from living as long as Methuselah."
"Then, pray let me be quiet!" groaned Pons. "I have never known what it is to be loved. I have had no child; I am alone in the world."
"Really, eh?" returned the portress. "You are so kind, and that is what women like, you see—it draws them—and it looked to me impossible that when you were in your prime—"
"Take her away," Pons whispered to Schmucke; "she sets my nerves on edge."
"Then there's M. Schmucke, he has children. You old bachelors are not all like that—"
"I!" cried Schmucke, springing to his feet, "vy!—"
"Come, then, you have none to come after you either, eh? You both sprung up out of the earth like mushrooms—"
"Look here, komm mit me," said Schmucke. The good German manfully took Mme. Cibot by the waist and carried her off into the next room, in spite of her exclamations.
"At your age, you would not take advantage of a defenceless woman!" cried La Cibot, struggling in his arms.