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Authors: Georges Simenon
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forgotten that the ten of spades had been played ...'
'Not at all, Grandjean,' she declared with her usual serenity. 'The doctor knew it very well. The proof is that in the previous trick he discarded a heart, which he would never have done otherwise.'
It wasn't true. She knew that I knew it. And I knew that she knew.
Do you understand what that meant?
A short time after this, when we had met not more than four times in all, my elder daughter Anne-Marie went down with diphtheria. My daughters, like most doctor's children, acquired during their childhood every one of the infectious diseases.
I was unwilling to send her to the city hospital, which at that time I did not consider up to standard. There was not a bed available in any of the private hospitals.
I decided to quarantine Anne-Marie at home and, as I did not want to take the responsibility myself, I called in my friend the laryngologist.
Dambois, that's his name. With what passionate interest he must have read all the newspaper accounts of my trial! He is very tall and thin, with an excessively long neck, a prominent Adam's apple, and the eyes of a clown.
'What we'll have to find first of all,' he said, 'is a nurse. I'll do some telephoning in a minute, but I very much doubt if I'll succeed ...'
There was an epidemic of diphtheria throughout the Department and it was not even easy to get serum.
'In any case, it is out of the question for your mother to continue to nurse our little patient and to take care of your younger daughter at the same time. I don't know just what I am going to do, but I'll take care of it. Don't you worry, old man ...'
I was in a state of collapse. I was frightened. I didn't know what I was doing. To tell the truth, I left everything to Dambois, I had no will of my own left.
'Hello!... Is that you, Alavoine?... This is Dambois ...' It was hardly half an hour since he had left the house.
'At last I've found a solution. As I thought, not a nurse to be had, not even at Nantes, where the epidemic is even worse than here ... Armande, who overheard me telephoning, has offered of her own accord to nurse your daughter ... She is used to sickness ... She is intelligent ... She has the necessary patience ... She will be at your house in an hour or two ... Just set up a camp bed for her in our little patient's room ... Not at all, old man, it's no trouble to her at all ... quite the contrary ... Between ourselves, I confess I'm delighted, it will be something to occupy her mind ... You don't know her ... People imagine because she is always smiling that she got over it... My wife and I, who see her every day, who know her intimately, we realize that she is completely demoralized, and, I tell you this confidentially, for a long time we thought it would finish badly ... So no scruples...
'If you really want to put her at her ease, you will treat her like an ordinary nurse, pay no attention to her, and show her that you have confidence in her as far as the patient is concerned...
'I'll hang up, old man, because she's downstairs now, waiting for your answer before going home to pack her bag ... She'll be at your house in an hour or two ...
'She likes you very much ... But it's true ... only she doesn't show her feelings readily...'
'We'll have the serum tomorrow evening. Go back to your patients and leave the rest to us...'
That, your Honour, is how Armande entered our house, a little travelling bag in her hand. The first thing she did was to put on a white hospital coat and tie a kerchief over her fair hair.
'And now, Mme Alavoine,' she said to Mama, 'under no consideration must you enter the sick-room. You know it is a question of the health of your other little girl. I have brought an electric stove with me and everything I shall need. You don't have to bother about a thing ...'
A few moments later I found Mama in tears in the hall outside the kitchen. She didn't want to cry in front of the maid — nor in front of me.
'What's the
'Not at all, Grandjean,' she declared with her usual serenity. 'The doctor knew it very well. The proof is that in the previous trick he discarded a heart, which he would never have done otherwise.'
It wasn't true. She knew that I knew it. And I knew that she knew.
Do you understand what that meant?
A short time after this, when we had met not more than four times in all, my elder daughter Anne-Marie went down with diphtheria. My daughters, like most doctor's children, acquired during their childhood every one of the infectious diseases.
I was unwilling to send her to the city hospital, which at that time I did not consider up to standard. There was not a bed available in any of the private hospitals.
I decided to quarantine Anne-Marie at home and, as I did not want to take the responsibility myself, I called in my friend the laryngologist.
Dambois, that's his name. With what passionate interest he must have read all the newspaper accounts of my trial! He is very tall and thin, with an excessively long neck, a prominent Adam's apple, and the eyes of a clown.
'What we'll have to find first of all,' he said, 'is a nurse. I'll do some telephoning in a minute, but I very much doubt if I'll succeed ...'
There was an epidemic of diphtheria throughout the Department and it was not even easy to get serum.
'In any case, it is out of the question for your mother to continue to nurse our little patient and to take care of your younger daughter at the same time. I don't know just what I am going to do, but I'll take care of it. Don't you worry, old man ...'
I was in a state of collapse. I was frightened. I didn't know what I was doing. To tell the truth, I left everything to Dambois, I had no will of my own left.
'Hello!... Is that you, Alavoine?... This is Dambois ...' It was hardly half an hour since he had left the house.
'At last I've found a solution. As I thought, not a nurse to be had, not even at Nantes, where the epidemic is even worse than here ... Armande, who overheard me telephoning, has offered of her own accord to nurse your daughter ... She is used to sickness ... She is intelligent ... She has the necessary patience ... She will be at your house in an hour or two ... Just set up a camp bed for her in our little patient's room ... Not at all, old man, it's no trouble to her at all ... quite the contrary ... Between ourselves, I confess I'm delighted, it will be something to occupy her mind ... You don't know her ... People imagine because she is always smiling that she got over it... My wife and I, who see her every day, who know her intimately, we realize that she is completely demoralized, and, I tell you this confidentially, for a long time we thought it would finish badly ... So no scruples...
'If you really want to put her at her ease, you will treat her like an ordinary nurse, pay no attention to her, and show her that you have confidence in her as far as the patient is concerned...
'I'll hang up, old man, because she's downstairs now, waiting for your answer before going home to pack her bag ... She'll be at your house in an hour or two ...
'She likes you very much ... But it's true ... only she doesn't show her feelings readily...'
'We'll have the serum tomorrow evening. Go back to your patients and leave the rest to us...'
That, your Honour, is how Armande entered our house, a little travelling bag in her hand. The first thing she did was to put on a white hospital coat and tie a kerchief over her fair hair.
'And now, Mme Alavoine,' she said to Mama, 'under no consideration must you enter the sick-room. You know it is a question of the health of your other little girl. I have brought an electric stove with me and everything I shall need. You don't have to bother about a thing ...'
A few moments later I found Mama in tears in the hall outside the kitchen. She didn't want to cry in front of the maid — nor in front of me.
'What's the
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