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 that you have?" she asked.

"Why, this one--this one was in the artichokes."

"Oh, then the other one is among the strawberries, by the well."

And she began to sob so piteously t