A Woman-Hater [90]
away her crime, and dissolving it in crocodile tears; but I played the injured friend and the tyrant.
"Then she curled round me, and coaxed, and said, 'Sweetheart, I can advance your interests all the better. You shall be famous for us both. I shall be happier in your success than in my own.'
"In short, she made it very hard to hold spite; and it ended in feeble-minded embraces. Indeed, she _was_ of service to me. I had a favor to ask: I wanted leave to count my Scotch time in France.
"My view was tenable; and Cornelia, by her beauty and her popularity, gained over all the professors to it but one. He stood out.
"Well, sir, an extraordinary occurrence befriended me; no, not extraordinary-- unusual.
"I lodged on a second floor. The first floor was very handsome. A young Englishman and his wife took it for a week. She was musical--a real genius. The only woman I ever heard sing without whining; for we are, by nature, the medical and unmusical sex."
"So you said before."
"I know I did; and I mean to keep saying it till people see it. Well, the young man was taken violently and mysteriously ill; had syncope after syncope, and at last ceased to breathe.
"The wife was paralyzed, and sat stupefied, and the people about feared for her reason.
"After a time they begged me to come down and talk to her. Of course I went. I found her with her head upon his knees. I sat down quietly, and looked at him. He was young and beautiful, but with a feminine beauty; his head finely shaped, with curly locks that glittered in the sun, and one golden lock lighter than the rest; his eyes and eyelashes, his oval face, his white neck, and his white hand, all beautiful. His left hand rested on the counterpane. There was an emerald ring on one finger. He was like some beautiful flower cut down. I can see him now.
"The woman lifted her head and saw me. She had a noble face, though now distorted and wild.
"She cried, 'Tell me he is not dead! tell me he is not dead!' and when I did not reply, the poor creature gave a wild cry, and her senses left her. We carried her into another room.
"While the women were bringing her to, an official came to insist on the interment taking place. They are terribly expeditious in the South of France.
"This caused an altercation, and the poor lady rushed out; and finding the officer peremptory, flung her arms round the body, and said they should not be parted--she would be buried with him.
"The official was moved, but said the law was strict, and the town must conduct the funeral unless she could find the sad courage to give the necessary instructions. With this he was going out, inexorable, when all of a sudden I observed something that sent my heart into my mouth, and I cried 'Arretez!' so loud that everybody stared.
"I said, 'You must wait till a physician has seen him; he has moved a finger.'
"I stared at the body, and they all stared at me.
"He _had_ moved a finger. When I first saw him, his fingers were all close together; but now the little finger was quite away from the third finger--the one with the ring on.
"I felt his heart, and found a little warmth about it, but no perceptible pulse. I ordered them to take off his sheet and put on blankets, but not to touch him till I came back with a learned physician. The wife embraced me, all trembling, and promised obedience. I got a _fiacre_ and drove to Dr. Brasseur, who was my hostile professor, but very able. I burst on him, and told him I had a case of catalepsy for him--it wasn't catalepsy, you know, but physicians are fond of Greek; they prefer the wrong Greek word to the right English. So I called it 'catalepsy,' and said I believed they were going to bury a live man. He shrugged his shoulders, and said that was one of the customs of the country. He would come in an hour. I told him that would not do, the man would be in his coffin; he must come directly. He smiled at my impetuosity, and yielded.
"I got him to the patient. He examined him, and said he might be alive, but feared the last spark was going out.
"Then she curled round me, and coaxed, and said, 'Sweetheart, I can advance your interests all the better. You shall be famous for us both. I shall be happier in your success than in my own.'
"In short, she made it very hard to hold spite; and it ended in feeble-minded embraces. Indeed, she _was_ of service to me. I had a favor to ask: I wanted leave to count my Scotch time in France.
"My view was tenable; and Cornelia, by her beauty and her popularity, gained over all the professors to it but one. He stood out.
"Well, sir, an extraordinary occurrence befriended me; no, not extraordinary-- unusual.
"I lodged on a second floor. The first floor was very handsome. A young Englishman and his wife took it for a week. She was musical--a real genius. The only woman I ever heard sing without whining; for we are, by nature, the medical and unmusical sex."
"So you said before."
"I know I did; and I mean to keep saying it till people see it. Well, the young man was taken violently and mysteriously ill; had syncope after syncope, and at last ceased to breathe.
"The wife was paralyzed, and sat stupefied, and the people about feared for her reason.
"After a time they begged me to come down and talk to her. Of course I went. I found her with her head upon his knees. I sat down quietly, and looked at him. He was young and beautiful, but with a feminine beauty; his head finely shaped, with curly locks that glittered in the sun, and one golden lock lighter than the rest; his eyes and eyelashes, his oval face, his white neck, and his white hand, all beautiful. His left hand rested on the counterpane. There was an emerald ring on one finger. He was like some beautiful flower cut down. I can see him now.
"The woman lifted her head and saw me. She had a noble face, though now distorted and wild.
"She cried, 'Tell me he is not dead! tell me he is not dead!' and when I did not reply, the poor creature gave a wild cry, and her senses left her. We carried her into another room.
"While the women were bringing her to, an official came to insist on the interment taking place. They are terribly expeditious in the South of France.
"This caused an altercation, and the poor lady rushed out; and finding the officer peremptory, flung her arms round the body, and said they should not be parted--she would be buried with him.
"The official was moved, but said the law was strict, and the town must conduct the funeral unless she could find the sad courage to give the necessary instructions. With this he was going out, inexorable, when all of a sudden I observed something that sent my heart into my mouth, and I cried 'Arretez!' so loud that everybody stared.
"I said, 'You must wait till a physician has seen him; he has moved a finger.'
"I stared at the body, and they all stared at me.
"He _had_ moved a finger. When I first saw him, his fingers were all close together; but now the little finger was quite away from the third finger--the one with the ring on.
"I felt his heart, and found a little warmth about it, but no perceptible pulse. I ordered them to take off his sheet and put on blankets, but not to touch him till I came back with a learned physician. The wife embraced me, all trembling, and promised obedience. I got a _fiacre_ and drove to Dr. Brasseur, who was my hostile professor, but very able. I burst on him, and told him I had a case of catalepsy for him--it wasn't catalepsy, you know, but physicians are fond of Greek; they prefer the wrong Greek word to the right English. So I called it 'catalepsy,' and said I believed they were going to bury a live man. He shrugged his shoulders, and said that was one of the customs of the country. He would come in an hour. I told him that would not do, the man would be in his coffin; he must come directly. He smiled at my impetuosity, and yielded.
"I got him to the patient. He examined him, and said he might be alive, but feared the last spark was going out.