beyond a few minutes.
She can hardly be induced to speak at all, but will sit quite still for
hours with any book that is given her, turning over the pages
mechanically. She has a curious fancy for big books, and will always
select the thickest from a number of volumes; but whether or not she
retains any impression of what she reads, or whether, in fact, she
really reads at all, it is quite impossible to say. She will sometimes
answer 'yes' or 'no' to a question, but she will give opposite answers
to the same question in five minutes. She will stare stolidly at any one
who talks to her consecutively; or will simply turn away, and close her
eyes as though she were going to sleep. In other respects she is in
normal health. She eats little, but regularly, and sleeps soundly; goes
out into her garden at certain hours, and seems to enjoy fine weather,
and to be annoyed when it rains. She is not easily startled by a sudden
noise, or the abrupt appearance of those of us who go to see her. Cutter
does not know what to make of it. She was once a very beautiful woman,
and is still as handsome as a woman can be at fifty. Cutter says that if
she had softening of the brain she would behave very differently, and
that if she had become feeble-minded the decay of her faculties would
show in her face; but there is nothing of that observable in her. She
has as much dignity and beauty as ever, and, excepting when she stares
blankly at those who talk to her, her face is intelligent, though very
sad."

"Poor lady!" I said. "How old did you say she is?"

"She must be fifty-two, in her fifty-third year. Her hair is gray, but
it is not white."

"Had she any children besides Paul and his brother?"

"No. I know very little of her family life. It was a love match; but old
Patoff was rich. I never heard that they quarreled. Alexander entered
the army, and remained in a guard regiment in St. Petersburg, while Paul
went into the diplomacy. Madame Patoff must have spent much of her time
with Alexander until he died, and Cutter says he was always the favorite
son. I dare say that Paul has a bad temper, and he may have been
extravagant. At all events, she loved Alexander devotedly, and it was
his death that first affected her mind."

John had grown more calm during this long conversation. To tell the
truth, I did not precisely understand why he should have looked so pale
and seemed so anxious, seeing that the news of Madame Patoff was
decidedly