myself--but all the same, it's hard, sir; I
assure you, it is truly hard."

"Poor woman!" said the doctor; and for a while there was a silence. Then
he asked: "It was your husband who brought you the disease?"

"Yes, sir," was the reply. "Everything which happened to us came from
him. We were living in the country when he got the disease. He went half
crazy. He no longer knew how to manage his affairs. He gave orders here
and there for considerable sums. We were not able to find the money."

"Why did he not undergo treatment?"

"He didn't know then. We were sold out, and we came to Paris. But we
hadn't a penny. He decided to go to the hospital for treatment."

"And then?"

"Why, they looked him over, but they refused him any medicine."

"How was that?"

"Because we had been in Paris only three months. If one hasn't been a
resident six months, one has no right to free medicine."

"Is that true?" broke in Monsieur Loches quickly.

"Yes," said the doctor, "that's the rule."

"So you see," said the woman, "it was not our fault."

"You never had children?" inquired the doctor.

"I was never able to bring one to birth," was the answer. "My husband
was taken just at the beginning of our marriage--it was while he
was serving in the army. You know, sir--there are women about the
garrisons--" She stopped, and there was a long silence.

"Come," said the doctor, "that's all right. I will arrange it with you.
You can come here to my office, and you can come on Sunday mornings."
And as the poor creature started to express her gratitude, he slipped a
coin into her hand. "Come, come; take it," he said gruffly. "You are not
going to play proud with me. No, no, I have no time to listen to you.
Hush!" And he pushed her out of the door.

Then he turned to the deputy. "You heard her story, sir," he said. "Her
husband was serving his time in the army; it was you law-makers who
compelled him to do that. And there are women about the garrisons--you
heard how her voice trembled as she said that? Take my advice, sir, and
look up the statistics as to the prevalence of this disease among our
soldiers. Come to some of my clinics, and let me introduce you to other
social types. You don't care very much about soldiers, perhaps--they
belong to the lower classes, and you think of them as rough men. But let
me show you what is going on among our college students--among the men
our daughters are some day to marry. Let me show you the wom