His sister was now six months with child, and as her figure grew great so
did her despair. She resolved not to leave her bed, and it grieved me to
see her thus cast down. Thinking me perfectly cured of my passion for
her, she treated me purely as a friend, making me touch her all over to
convince me that she dare not shew herself any longer. I played in short
the part of a midwife, but with what a struggle! I had to pretend to be
calm and unconcerned when I was consumed with passion. She spoke of
killing herself in a manner that made me shudder, as I saw that she had
reflected on what she was saying. I was in a difficult position when
fortune came to my assistance in a strange and amusing manner.

One day, as I was dining with Madame d'Urfe, I asked her if she knew of
any way by which a girl, who had allowed her lover to go too far, might
be protected from shame. "I know of an infallible method," she replied,
"the aroph of Paracelsus to wit, and it is easy of application. Do you
wish to know more about it?" she added; and without waiting for me to
answer she brought a manuscript, and put it in my hands. This powerful
emmenagogue was a kind of unguent composed of several drugs, such as
saffron, myrrh, etc., compounded with virgin honey. To obtain the
necessary result one had to employ a cylindrical machine covered with
extremely soft skin, thick enough to fill the opening of the vagina, and
long enough to reach the opening of the reservoir or case containing the
foetus. The end of this apparatus was to be well anointed with aroph, and
as it only acted at a moment of uterine excitement it was necessary to
apply it with the same movement as that of coition. The dose had to be
repeated five or six times a day for a whole week.

This nostrum, and the manner of administering it, struck me in so
laughable a light that I could not keep my countenance. I laughed with