e not got very much and I should need my
money for the little one."

"Then you did not intend to kill him?"

"Oh, certainly not, monsieur!"

"Why did you kill him, then?"

"It happened this way. It came sooner than I expected. It came upon me in
the kitchen, while I was doing the dishes. Monsieur and Madame Varambot
were already asleep, so I went up, not without difficulty, dragging
myself up by the banister, and I lay down on the bare floor. It lasted
perhaps one hour, or two, or three; I don't know, I had such pain; and
then I pushed him out with all my strength. I felt that he came out and I
picked him up.

"Ah! but I was glad, I assure you! I did all that Madame Boudin told me
to do. And then I laid him on my bed. And then such a pain griped me
again that I thought I should die. If you knew what it meant, you there,
you would not do so much of this. I fell on my knees, and then toppled
over backward on the floor; and it griped me again, perhaps one hour,
perhaps two. I lay there all alone--and then another one
comes--another little one--two, yes, two, like this. I took him
up as I did the first one, and then I put him on the bed, the two side by
side. Is it possible, tell me, two children, and I who get only twenty
francs a month? Say, is it possible? One, yes, that can be managed by
going without things, but not two. That turned my head. What do I know
about it? Had I any choice, tell me?

"What could I do? I felt as if my last hour had come. I put the pillow
over them, without knowing why. I could not keep them both; and then I
threw myself down, and I lay there, rolling over and over and crying
until I saw the daylight come into the window. Both of them were quite
dead under the pillow. Then I took them under my arms and went down the
stairs out in the vegetable garden. I took the gardener's spade and I
buried them under the earth, digging as deep a hole as I could, one here
and the other one there, not together, so that they might not talk of
their mother if these little dead bodies can talk. What do I know about
it?

"And then, back in my bed, I felt so sick that I could not get up. They
sent for the doctor and he understood it all. I'm telling you the truth,
Your Honor. Do what you like with me; I'm ready."

Half of the jury were blowing their noses violently to keep from crying.
The women in the courtroom were sobbing.

The president asked her:

"Where did you bury the other one?"

"The one tha