She sat down in an easy-chair, and he began to look at her
fixedly, as if to fascinate her. I suddenly felt myself somewhat
discomposed; my heart beat rapidly and I had a choking feeling in
my throat. I saw that Madame Sable's eyes were growing heavy, her
mouth twitched, and her bosom heaved, and at the end of ten
minutes she was asleep.

"Go behind her," the doctor said to me; so I took a seat behind
her. He put a visiting-card into her hands, and said to her:
"This is a looking-glass; what do you see in it?"

She replied: "I see my cousin."

"What is he doing?"

"He is twisting his mustache."

"And now?"

"He is taking a photograph out of his pocket."

"Whose photograph is it?"

"His own."

That was true, for the photograph had been given me that same
evening at the hotel.

"What is his attitude in this portrait?"