the count had brought enjoyed in Normandy the equivocal reputation
which attached to a physician who was known to do mysterious works. He
belonged to the class of sorcerers who are still called in parts of
France "bonesetters." This name belonged to certain untutored geniuses
who, without apparent study, but by means of hereditary knowledge and
the effect of long practice, the observations of which accumulated in
the family, were bonesetters; that is, they mended broken limbs and
cured both men and beasts of certain maladies, possessing secrets said
to be marvellous for the treatment of serious cases. But not only had
Maitre Antoine Beauvouloir (the name of the present bonesetter) a
father and grandfather who were famous practitioners, from whom he
inherited important traditions, he was also learned in medicine, and
was given to the study of natural science. The country people saw his
study full of books and other strange things which gave to his
successes a coloring of magic. Without passing strictly for a
sorcerer, Antoine Beauvouloir impressed the populace through a
circumference of a hundred miles with respect akin to terror, and
(what was far more really dangerous for himself) he held in his power
many secrets of life and death which concerned the noble families of
that region. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was
celebrated for his skill in confinements and miscarriages. In those
days of unbridled disorder, crimes were so frequent and passions so
violent that the higher nobility often found itself compelled to
initiate Maitre Antoine Beauvouloir into secrets both shameful and
terrible. His discretion, so essential to his safety, was absolute;
consequently his clients paid him well, and his hereditary practice
greatly increased. Always on the road, sometimes roused in the dead of
night, as on this occasion by the count, sometimes obliged to spend
several days with certain great ladies, he had never married; in fact,
his reputation had hindered certain young women from accepting him.