Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXIII. More Doctors
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efficiency as his principal collaborator. There
was on the other hand the undeniable fact that
his prospects as an undertaker were much
brighter if I proved to be wrong than if I proved
to be right. Soon the rumour spread that old
Doctor Pilkington had been called to the Hôtel
de Russie in consultation and had discovered that
there were to be two babies instead of one.
Signor Cornacchia realized that the only right
policy was to wait and see. When it became
known that the English chaplain had been
warned to hold himself in readiness at any
hour of the day or the night for a christening
in articulo mortis in view of the prolonged
strain, there was no more room for hesitation.
Signor Cornacchia went over to the enemy’s
camp, bag and baggage, abandoning me to my
fate. From Signor Cornacchia’s professional
point of view as an undertaker a baby was as
good as a full-grown person. But why not two
babies? And why not also . . . ?
Already when a wet nurse in her picturesque
costume from the Sabine mountains had been
seen entering the Hôtel de Russie unmistakable
signs of discouragement had become apparent
among my allies. When a perambulator arrived
from England and was placed in the hall of the
hotel, my position became almost critical. All
the tourist ladies in the hotel gave a friendly
glance at the perambulator as they crossed the
hall, all the waiters were offering bets of two
to one on twins, all the betting on no baby at
all having ceased. I was cut by several people
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