But that is of no importance. I wanted your opinion given positively.
I believed in you, and you have disappointed me.' Her head dropped
on her breast. 'And so it ends!' she said to herself bitterly.
The Doctor's sympathies were touched. Perhaps it might be more
correct to say that his professional pride was a little hurt.
'It may end in the right way yet,' he remarked, 'if you choose to
help me.'
She looked up again with flashing eyes, 'Speak plainly,' she said.
'How can I help you?'
'Plainly, madam, you come to me as an enigma, and you leave me
to make the right guess by the unaided efforts of my art. My art
will do much, but not all. For example, something must have occurred--
something quite unconnected with the state of your bodily health--
to frighten you about yourself, or you would never have come here
to consult me. Is that true?'
She clasped her hands in her lap. 'That is true!' she said eagerly.
'I begin to believe in you again.'
'Very well. You can't expect me to find out the moral cause which has
alarmed you. I can positively discover that there is no physical
cause of alarm; and (unless you admit me to your confidence)
I can do no more.
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