“Ah! you are saved!” he cried as he embraced me. “The doctor said that you would recover consciousness to-night, before nine o’clock. I was counting the minutes; there are only five left and I was beginning to doubt the doctor’s word. But you recognize me! Sacredi! you are saved!”
He embraced me again, and I felt tears upon my cheeks. So there were still some people who loved me! That thought relieved me. I held out my hand to that excellent man, pressed his hand, and motioned to him to sit down beside me.
“First of all,” he said to me, “you are going to drink this; it’s some medicine ordered by the doctor, and you must do what he orders, since he has cured you. I believe in doctors now.”
I drank the potion; then Pettermann picked up the watch and put it to his ear, saying:
“It was your watch that I dropped on the floor, monsieur; but it hasn’t even stopped. It’s like you, the spring is strong.”
He sat down and continued:
“For five days now you’ve been there in bed, and in that time fever and delirium have been playing a fine game with you! Your brain galloped like the infernal horse that knocked you down. We tried in vain to calm you; you called me Eugénie, you talked about nothing but Eugénie. Sometimes you adored her, and the next minute you cursed her; so that the concierge, who is a bit of a gossip, said that some woman named Eugénie must have been playing tricks on you; and I replied: ‘You must see that monsieur is delirious, and consequently he doesn’t know what he is saying.’ In short, I don’t know whether I did right, monsieur, but seeing you in that condition, and no one with you to nurse you, I stationed myself here and I haven’t budged. The concierge undertook to object, he wanted his niece, who is nine years old, to nurse you; but prout! I didn’t listen to him, and I said: ‘I was the one who brought monsieur home wounded, and I won’t leave him until he’s cured.’ If I did wrong, I ask your pardon, and I will go away.”
I offered my hand to Pettermann again.
“Far from doing wrong, my friend, it is I who am deeply indebted to you.”
“Not at all, monsieur, I owe you forty francs. But as soon as you get your cloth——”