Thereupon he slipped off and flew up the stairs with noiseless agility.  And directly afterwards there was an explosion.  Then the house suddenly sank into death-like silence.  All that could be heard was the voice of Madame in the office, as, in a very dignified manner, she kept on praising her goods.

“Well, my friend,” said Boutan to Mathieu, while they walked up and down the passage, “all this, the material side of things, is nothing.  What you should see and know is what goes on in the minds of all these people.  And note that this is a fair average place.  There are others which are real dens, and which the police sometimes have to close.  No doubt there is a certain amount of supervision, and there are severe regulations which compel the nurses to bring certificates of morality, books setting forth their names, ages, parentage, the situations they have held, and so on, with other documents on which they have immediately to secure a signature from the Prefecture, where the final authorization is granted them.  But these precautions don’t prevent fraud and deceit of various kinds.  The women assert that they have only recently begun nursing, when they have been doing it for months; they show you superb children which they have borrowed and which they assert to be their own.  And there are many other tricks to which they resort in their eagerness to make money.”

As the doctor and Mathieu chatted on, they paused for a moment near the door of the refectory, which chanced to be open, and there, among other young peasant women, they espied La Couteau hastily partaking of cold meat.  Doubtless she had just arrived from Rougemont, and, after disposing of the batch of nurses she had brought with her, was seeking sustenance for the various visits which she would have to make before returning home.  The refectory, with its wine-stained tables and greasy walls, cast a smell like that of a badly-kept sink.

“Ah! so you know La Couteau!” exclaimed Boutan, when Mathieu had told him of his meetings with the woman.  “Then you know the depths of crime.  La Couteau is an ogress!  And yet, think of it, with our fine social organization, she is more or less useful, and perhaps I myself shall be happy to choose one of the nurses that she has brought with her.”

At this moment Madame Broquette very amiably asked the visitors into her office.  After long reflection, the old gentleman had gone off without selecting any nurse, but saying that he would return some other time.

“There are folks who don’t know their own minds,” said Madame Broquette sententiously.  “It isn’t my fault, and I sincerely beg you to excuse me, doctor.  If you want a good nurse you will be satisfied, for I have just received some excellent ones from the provinces.  I will show you.”

Herminie, meanwhile, had not condescended to raise her nose from her novel.  She remained ensconced in her armchair, still reading, with a weary, bored expression on her anaemic countenance.  Mathieu, after sitting down a little on one side, contented himself with looking on, while Boutan stood erect, attentive to every detail, like a commander reviewing his troops.  And the procession began.