m herself; for he was a
single man, and the patient, though sick, not destitute of charms,
especially of that more tangible charm which, to _indigent_ young men,
and especially young _medical_ men, so often eclipses all others. She,
on her part, as I well knew, was not wholly resigned to the world of
single blessedness, though her long-continued ill health had almost
unfitted her for any thing else.

It only required a little _management_ to bring about the desired
result. Dr. Juvenis was soon employed; and, though he did not always
reply to her questions, which were numerous, and often wholly
irrelevant, yet according to my own secret anticipations, he gradually
raised her hopes in another direction, and hence drew her attention in
no small degree from herself. His reserve, too, served but to inspire
her with confidence in his great wisdom. There was something deep beyond
the exterior, she always thought, which did not come out to the full,
vulgar gaze.

The final result was a strong attachment on her part, which, though not
reciprocated by him in a direct manner, was not by any means repelled.
The virtues of the medicines were no longer discussed or doubted; and it
was obvious to all that she was beginning to mend.

It was now high time for me to abandon a field which was not only fully
occupied, but _well_ occupied. The visits of the young physician were
continued, at longer or shorter intervals, for years, till the young
woman's health was nearly restored; and, as I subsequently learned, they
were married. The more recent history of her life, I have not been able
to ascertain, except that neither party gained as much by the new
connection as had been expected,--a result which, alas! is by no means
any thing new, and that there was, after some time, a relapse of
disease.

This artifice for restoring health to a bedridden patient, is not
mentioned in a way of approbation, but of regret, or at least of
confession. Yet, while it declares my weakness, it develops or at least
confirms a well-known principle, which it concerns mankind, patients as
well as physicians, most fully and clearly to understand. The medical
efficiency of an agent is greatly enhanced when the mind can be made to
go along with it.

I have wished a thousand times, both by night and by day, that I had
never commended Dr. Juvenis to the favorable notice and regard of this
illiterate but confiding family. True, I had the good fortune thus to
get