“Just then the clock struck twelve, and I started up.  ‘Twelve o’clock!’ I exclaimed.  ’That is the time when the club closes.  Come, Madame, we have not a moment to lose!’ She started up, and I said:  ’We must carry him into the drawing-room.’  And when we had done this, I placed him on a sofa, and lit the chandeliers, and just then the front door was opened and shut noisily.  He had come back, and I said:  Rose, bring me the basin and the towels, and make the room look tidy.  Make haste, for heaven’s sake!  Monsieur Lelievre is coming in.’

“I heard his steps on the stairs, and then his hands feeling along the walls.  ‘Come here, my dear fellow,’ I said, ‘we have had an accident.’

“And the astonished husband appeared in the door with a cigar in his mouth, and said:  ‘What is the matter?  What is the meaning of this?’ ’My dear friend,’ I said, going up to him; ’you find us in great embarrassment.  I had remained late, chatting with your wife and our friend, who had brought me in his carriage, when he suddenly fainted, and in spite of all we have done, he has remained unconscious for two hours.  I did not like to call in strangers, and if you will now help me downstairs with him, I shall be able to attend to him better at his own house.’

“The husband, who was surprised, but quite unsuspicious, took off his hat, and then he took his rival, who would be quite inoffensive for the future, under his arms.  I got between his two legs, as if I had been a horse between the shafts, and we went downstairs, while his wife lighted us.  When we got outside, I held the body up, so as to deceive the coachman, and said:  ’Come, my friend; it is nothing; you feel better already, I expect.  Pluck up your courage, and make an attempt.  It will soon be over.’  But as I felt that he was slipping out of my hands, I gave him a slap on the shoulder, which sent him forward and made him fall into the carriage, and then I got in after him.  Monsieur Lelievre, who was rather alarmed, said to me:  ’Do you think it is anything serious?’ To which I replied, ‘No,’ with a smile, as I looked at his wife, who had put her arm into that of her legitimate husband, and was trying to see into the carriage.

“I shook hands with them, and told my coachman 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 become unconscious on the way home, and helped to carry him upstairs, where I certified that he was dead, and acted another comedy to his distracted family, and at last I got back to bed, not without swearing at lovers.”

The doctor ceased, though he was still smiling, and the young woman, who was in a very nervous state, said:  “Why have you told me that terrible story?”

He gave her a gallant bow, and replied: 

“So that I may offer you my services, if necessary.”

THE ASSIGNATION