ight. The count's recovery was soon attested by the return of
his fantastic humor. He began by saying that neither the countess, nor
I, nor the doctor had known how to take care of him; we were ignorant
of his constitution and also of his disease; we misunderstood his
sufferings and the necessary remedies. Origet, infatuated with his own
doctrines, had mistaken the case, he ought to have attended only to
the pylorus. One day he looked at us maliciously, with an air of having
guessed our thoughts, and said to his wife with a smile, "Now, my dear,
if I had died you would have regretted me, no doubt, but pray admit you
would have been quite resigned."

"Yes, I should have mourned you in pink and black, court mourning," she
answered laughing, to change the tone of his remarks.

But it was chiefly about his food, which the doctor insisted on
regulating, that scenes of violence and wrangling now took place, unlike
any that had hitherto occurred; for the character of the count was all
the more violent for having slumbered. The countess, fortified by the
doctor's orders and the obedience of her servants, stimulated too by
me, who thought this struggle a good means to teach her to exercise
authority over the count, held out against his violence. She showed
a calm front to his demented cries, and even grew accustomed to his
insulting epithets, taking him for what he was, a child. I had the
happiness of at last seeing her take the reins in hand and govern that
unsound mind. The count cried out, but he obeyed; and he obeyed all the
better when he had made an outcry. But in spite of the evidence of good
results, Henriette often wept at the spectacle of this emaciated, feeble
old man, with a forehead yellower than the falling leaves, his eyes wan,
his hands trembling. She blamed herself for too much severity, and could
not resist the joy she saw in his eyes when, in measuring out his food,
she gave him more than the doctor allowed. She was even more gentle and
gracious to him than she had been to me; but there were differences
here which filled my heart with joy. She was not unwearying, and she
sometimes called her servants to wait upon the count when his caprices
changed too rapidly, and he complained of not being understood.

The countess wished to return thanks to God for the count's recovery;
she directed a mass to be said, and asked if I would take her to church.
I did so, but I left her at the door, and went to see Monsieur an