[adapted]

by
Guy De Maupassant

The old doctor sat by the fire, talking to his pretty patient who was lying on the sofa. There was not much wrong with her, except that she had one of those small women’s illnesses that pretty women often have — a little anemia, a nervous attack, etc.

“No, doctor,” she said; “I will never be able to understand a woman cheating her husband. Even if she does not love him, even if she does not care about her wedding vows and promises, how can she be with another man? How can she hide the cheating from other people? How can it be possible to love in the middle of lies and cheating?”

The doctor smiled, and answered: “It is very easy, and I can promise you that a woman does not think about all those little tiny details when she has decided to do wrong.”

“As for pretending, all women have a lot of it ready for such times, and the simplest of them are wonderful, and get themselves out of the biggest problems in an amazing way.”

The young woman, though, seemed not to believe it.

“No, doctor,” she said; “people never think until after it has happened about what they should have done in a difficult situation, and women are certainly more likely than men to lose their head at such times:”

The doctor raised his hands. “After it has happened, you say! Now I will tell you something that happened to one of my women patients, who I always thought was a very good woman.

“It happened in a small town, and one night when I was asleep, in that deep first sleep that is so hard to wake from, it seemed to me, in my dreams, as if the bells in the town were ringing a fire alarm, and I woke up suddenly. It was my own bell, which was ringing very loudly, and as my servant was not answering the door, I then pulled the bell at the head of my bed, and soon I heard a banging, and footsteps in the silent house, and Jean came into my room, and handed me a letter which said: ‘Madame Lelievre asks Dr. Simeon to come to her at once.’”

“I thought for a few moments, and then I said to myself: ‘A nervous attack, faintness; nonsense, I am too tired.’ And so I replied: ‘As Dr. Simeon is not at all well, he must ask Madame Lelievre to be kind enough to send for another doctor, Monsieur Bonnet.’ I put the note into an envelope and went to sleep again, but about half an hour later the street bell rang again, and Jean came to me and said: ‘There is somebody downstairs; I do not quite know whether it is a man or a woman, as the person is so covered up, but they wish to speak to you at once. They say it is about life and death for two people.’ Then I sat up in bed and told him to bring the person in.”

“A kind of black ghost came and lifted her veil right after Jean had left the room. It was Madame Berthe Lelievre, a very young woman, who had been married for three years to a rich trader in the town, who people said had married the prettiest girl in the area.

“She was very pale, her face was tight as the faces of crazy people sometimes are, and her hands shook hard. Twice she tried to speak but could not make a sound, but at last she stuttered out: ‘Come — quick — quick, doctor. Come — my — friend has just died in my bedroom.’ She stopped, almost unable to breathe with emotion, and then went on: ‘My husband will be coming home from the club very soon.’

“I jumped out of bed without even thinking that I was only in my nightshirt, and got dressed in a few moments, and then I said: ‘Did you come a little while ago?’ ‘No,’ she said, standing like a statue, frozen with fear. ‘It was my maid — she knows.’ And then, after a short silence, she continued: ‘I was there — by his side.’ And she gave a kind of cry of fear, and after a choking fit, which made her gasp, she cried very hard, and shook with sudden sobs for a minute: or two. Then her tears suddenly stopped, as if by an inner fire, and with a look of sad calm, she said: ‘Let us hurry.’”

“I was ready, but said: ‘I forgot to call my carriage.’ ‘I have one,’ she said; ‘it is his, and it was waiting for him!’ She wrapped herself up, to hide her face completely, and we started.

“When she was by my side in the carriage she suddenly grabbed my hand, and squeezing it hard in her small fingers, she said, with a shaky voice that came from a troubled heart: ‘Oh! if you only knew, if you only knew how much I am suffering! I loved him, I have loved him madly, like a madwoman, for the last six months.’ ‘Is anyone awake in your house?’ I asked. ‘No, nobody except those who know everything.’”

We stopped at the door, and clearly everybody was asleep. We went in without making any noise, with her key, and walked upstairs on tiptoe. The scared servant was sitting on the top of the stairs with a lit candle by her side, because she was afraid to stay with the dead man, and I went into the room, which was very messy. Wet towels, which they had used to bathe the sides of the young man’s head, were lying on the floor, by the side of a bowl for washing and a glass, while a strong smell of vinegar filled the room.

“The dead man’s body was lying stretched out in the middle of the room, and I went up to it, looked at it, and touched it. I opened the eyes and felt the hands, and then, turning to the two women, who were shaking as if they were cold, I said to them: ‘Help me to lift him on to the bed.’ When we had put him gently on it, I listened to his heart and put a mirror to his lips, and then said: ‘It is all over.’ It was a terrible sight!”

“I looked at the man, and said: ‘You should tidy his hair a little.’ The girl went and brought her lady’s comb and brush, but as she was shaking, and pulling out his long, tangled hair as she did it, Madame Lelievre took the comb out of her hand, and tidied his hair as if she was gently touching him.”

She parted it, brushed his beard, rolled his mustaches gently around her fingers, then, suddenly, letting go of his hair, she took the dead man’s still head in her hands and looked for a long time in great sadness at the dead face, which no longer could smile at her, and then, throwing herself on him, she held him in her arms and kissed him with great love.

Her kisses came down like hits on his closed mouth and eyes, his forehead and the sides of his head; and then, putting her lips to his ear, as if he could still hear her, and as if she was going to whisper something to him, she said several times, in a very sad voice:

“‘Good-by, my darling!’

“Just then the clock rang twelve, and I jumped up. ‘Twelve o’clock!’ I said. ‘That is when the club closes. Come, madam, we have no time to lose!’ She jumped up, and I said:”

“‘We must carry him into the living room.’ And when we had done this, I put him on a sofa, and turned on the lights, and just then the front door was opened and shut loudly. ‘Rose, bring me the bowl and the towels, and make the room look clean. Hurry up, for heaven’s sake! Mr. Lelievre is coming in.’

“I heard his steps on the stairs, and then his hands touching the walls. ‘Come here, my friend,’ I said; ‘we have had an accident.’”

“And the surprised husband appeared in the door with a cigar in his mouth, and said: ‘What is the matter? What does this mean?’ ‘My dear friend,’ I said, going up to him, ‘you find us in great trouble. I stayed late, chatting with your wife and our friend, who had brought me in his carriage, when he suddenly fainted, and even though we did everything, he has not woken up for two hours. I did not want to call strangers, and if you will now help me carry him downstairs, I will be able to take care of him better at his own house.’”

“The husband, who was surprised, but not suspicious at all, took off his hat, and then he took his rival, who would be quite harmless from now on, under the arms. I got between his two legs, like a horse between the bars, and we went downstairs, while his wife held a light for us. When we got outside I stood the body up, to trick the driver, and said: ‘Come, my friend; it is nothing; I expect you feel better already. Be brave, and make an effort. It will soon be over.’”

But as I felt that he was getting away from me, I gave him a slap on the shoulder, which pushed him forward and made him fall into the carriage, and then I got in after him. Monsieur Lelievre, who was quite worried, said to me: ‘Do you think it is anything serious?’ I replied: ‘No,’ with a smile, as I looked at his wife, who had put her arm into her husband’s arm, and was trying to look into the carriage.

“I shook hands with them and told my driver to start, and during the whole drive the dead man kept falling against me. When we got to his house I said that he had passed out on the way home, and helped to carry him upstairs, where I said that he was dead, and pretended again for his upset family, and at last I got back to bed, not without saying bad words about lovers.”

The doctor stopped, but he was still smiling, and the young woman, who was very nervous, said: “Why have you told me that terrible story?”

He gave her a polite bow, and replied:

“So that I can offer you my help if it should be needed.”