"Yes, I cannot help it."

"Let us go to your cousin's."

She was already resting on a couch, overcome with fatigue. The
doctor felt her pulse, looked at her for some time with one hand
raised toward her eyes, which she closed by degrees under the
irresistible power of this magnetic influence. When she was
asleep, he said:

"Your husband does not require the five thousand francs any
longer! You must, therefore, forget that you asked your cousin to
lend them to you, and, if he speaks to you about it, you will not
understand him."

Then he woke her up, and I took out a pocket-book and said: "Here
is what you asked me for this morning, my dear cousin." But she
was so surprised, that I did not venture to persist;
nevertheless, I tried to recall the circumstance to her, but she
denied it vigorously, thought that I was making fun of her, and
in the end, very nearly lost her temper.

There! I have just come back, and I have not been able to eat any
lunch, for this experiment has altogether upset me.

July 19. Many people to whom I have told the adventure have
laughed at me. I no longer know what to think. The wise man says:
Perhaps?