The old doctor sat by the fireside, talking to his fair patient who was lying on the lounge.
There was nothing much the matter with her, except that she had one of those little
feminine ailments from which pretty women frequently suffer--slight anaemia, a nervous
attack, etc.
"No, doctor," she said; "I shall never be able to understand a woman deceiving her
husband. Even allowing that she does not love him, that she pays no heed to her vows
and promises, how can she give herself to another man? How can she conceal the intrigue
from other people's eyes? How can it be possible to love amid lies and treason?"
The doctor smiled, and replied: "It is perfectly easy, and I can assure you that a woman
does not think of all those little subtle details when she has made up her mind to go
astray.
"As for dissimulation, all women have plenty of it on hand for such occasions, and the
simplest of them are wonderful, and extricate themselves from the greatest dilemmas in a
remarkable manner."
The young woman, however, seemed incredulous.
"No, doctor," she said; "one never thinks until after it has happened of what one ought to
have done in a critical situation, and women are certainly more liable than men to lose
their head on such occasions:"
The doctor raised his hands. "After it has happened, you say! Now I will tell you
something that happened to one of my female patients, whom I always considered an
immaculate woman.
"It happened in a provincial town, and one night when I was asleep, in that deep first
sleep from which it is so difficult to rouse us, it seemed to me, in my dreams, as if the
bells in the town were sounding a fire alarm, and I woke up with a start. It was my own
bell, which was ringing wildly, and as my footman did not seem to be answering the
door, I, in turn, pulled the bell at the head of my bed, and soon I heard a banging, and
steps in the silent house, and Jean came into my room, and handed me a letter which said:
'Madame Lelievre begs Dr. Simeon to come to her immediately.'
"I thought for a few moments, and then I said to myself: 'A nervous attack, vapors;
nonsense, I am too tired.' And so I replied: 'As Dr. Simeon is not at all well, he must beg
Madame Lelievre to be kind enough to call in his colleague, Monsieur Bonnet.' I put the
note into an envelope and went to sleep again, but about half an hour later the street bell
rang again, and Jean came to me and said: 'There is somebody downstairs; I do not quite
know whether it is a man or a woman, as the individual is so wrapped up, but they wish
