His heart, compressed by a painful foreboding, slackened its joyous throbbing.
"That's nothing.

That's nothing.

It's always like this," said he softly, bending over his wife to give her a kiss.

But she moaned right into his face: "I'll not survive this." Her lips were gray and cold, and when he touched them with his own he understood that death was already within her.
"Oh, Lord!" he uttered, in an alarmed whisper, feeling that fright was choking his throat and suppressing his breath.
"Natasha?
What will become of him?
He must be nursed! What is the matter with you ?" He almost began to cry at his wife.

The midwife was bustling about him; shaking the crying child in the air.