than if it had been a question of no matter what rivalry under any
kind of conditions.

But, as she had one of those natures which, in all crises, after the
first blow, react, struggle, and find arguments for consolation, she
reasoned that, once her dear little daughter should be married, when
they should no longer live under the same roof, she herself would
no longer be compelled to endure that incessant comparison which
was beginning to be too painful for her under the eyes of her friend
Olivier.

But the shock had been too much for her that evening. She was feverish
and hardly slept at all. In the morning she awoke weary and overcome by
extreme lassitude, and then within her surged up an irresistible longing
to be comforted again, to be succored, to ask help from someone who
could cure all her ills, all her moral and physical ailments.

Indeed, she felt so ill at ease and weak that she had an idea of
consulting her physician. Perhaps she was about to be seriously
affected, for it was not natural that in a few hours she should pass
through those successive phases of suffering and relief. So she sent him
a telegram, and awaited his coming.

He arrived about eleven o'clock. He was one of those dignified,
fashionable physicians whose decorations and titles guarantee their
ability, whose tact at least equals mere skill, and who have, above all,
when treating women, an adroitness that is surer than medicines.

He entered, bowed, looked at his patient, and said with a smile: "Come,
this is not a very grave case. With eyes like yours one is never very
ill."

She felt immediate gratitude to him for this beginning, and told him
of her troubles, her weakness, her nervousness and melancholy; then she
mentioned, without laying too much stress on the matter, her alarmingly
ill appearance. After listening to her with an attentive air, though
asking no questions except as to her appetite, as if he knew well the
secret nature of this feminine ailment, he sounded her, examined her,
felt of her shoulders with the tips of his fingers, lifted her arms,
having undoubtedly met her thought and understood with the shrewdness of
a practitioner who lifts all veils that she was consulting him more for
her beauty than for her health. Then he said:

"Yes, we are a little anemic, and have some nervous troubles. That is
not surprising, since you have experienced such a great affliction. I
will write you a little prescription that will set y