And groats never again appeared on his table.
When they had been married for six weeks, the young wife fell ill. She
suffered from headaches and sickness. It could not be anything serious,
just a little cold. But this sickness? Had she eaten anything which had
disagreed with her? Hadn't all the copper vessels new coatings of tin?
He sent for the doctor. The doctor smiled and said it was all right.
"What was all right? Oh! Nonsense! It wasn't possible. How could it
have been possible? No, surely, the bed-room paper was to blame. It
must contain arsenic. Let us send a piece to the chemist's at once and
have it tested."
"Entirely free from arsenic," reported the chemist.
"How strange! No arsenic in the wall papers?"
The young wife was still ill. He consulted a medical book and whispered
a question in her ear. "There now! a hot bath!"
Four weeks later the midwife declared that everything was "as it
should be."
"As it should be? Well, of course! Only it was somewhat premature!"
But as it could not, be helped, they were delighted. Fancy, a baby!
They would be papa and mama! What should they call him? For, of course,
it would be a boy. No doubt, it would. But now she had a serious
conversation with her husband! There had been no translating or
proof-correcting since their marriage.
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