An old woman and a young girl had
been hurt in the fight. The old woman was tall and angular and had skin
as yellow and wrinkled as parchment; she was standing up, groaning and
holding her left arm with her right hand; she did not seem to be
suffering much, but the girl was crying. She was sitting on a chair with
her hands spread out on her knees and her head bent low; she was
trembling convulsively and shaking with low sobs. As they replied by
complaints to all our questions, and as the testimony of the witnesses
was conflicting, we could not ascertain who had started the fight or
what it was about. Some said that a husband had surprised his wife;
others, that the women had started the row and that the owner of the
house had tried to kill them in order to make them stop. But no one knew
anything definite. M. _le commissaire_ was greatly perplexed and the
_garde_ perfectly nonplussed.
As the doctor was away, and as it might be that the good people did not
wish his services, because it meant expense, we had the audacity to
offer the help of our limited knowledge and rushed off for our satchels,
a piece of cerecloth, and some linen and lint which we had brought with
us in anticipation of possible accidents.
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