vous affections which have a family history, and set medical skill
at defiance. She told them, what they already partly knew, that her
grandmother[*] was confined in the lunatic asylum of Les Tulettes at a
short distance from Plassans, and that her mother had died from
galloping consumption, after many years of brain affection and
hysterical fits. She herself took more after her father; she had his
features and the same gravity of temperament. Jeanne, on the other
hand, was the facsimile of her grandmother; but she never would have
her strength, commanding figure, or sturdy, bony frame. The two
doctors enjoined on her once more that the greatest care was
requisite. Too many precautions could not be taken in dealing with
chloro-anaemical affections, which tend to develop a multitude of
dangerous diseases.

[*] Adelaide Fouque, already mentioned, who figures so prominently in
"The Fortune of the Rougons," and dies under such horrible
circumstances in "Doctor Pascal."

Henri had listened to old Doctor Bodin with a deference which he had
never before displayed for a colleague. He besought his advice on
Jeanne's case with the air of a pupil who is full of doubt. Truth to
tell, this child inspired him with dread; he felt that her case was
beyond his science, and he feared lest she might die under his hands
and her mother be lost to him for ever. A week passed away. He was no
longer admitted by Helene into the little one's presence; and in the
end, sad and sick at heart, he broke off his visits of his own accord.

As the month of August verged on its close, Jeanne recovered
sufficient strength to rise and walk across the room. The lightness of
her heart spoke in her laughter. A fortnight had elapsed since the
recurrence of any nervous attack. The thought that her mother was
again all her own and would ever cling to her had proved remedy
enough. At first distrust had rankled in her mind; while letting
Helene kiss her she had remained uneasy at her least movement, and had
imperiously besought her hand before she fell asleep, anxious to
retain it in her own during her slumber. But at last, with the
knowledge that nobody came near, she had regained confidence,
enraptured by the prospect of a reopening of the old happy life when
they had sat side by side, working at the window. Every day brought
new roses to her cheeks; and Rosalie declared that she was blossoming
brighter and brighter every hour.

There were times, ho