d
she was a Venus; yes, a fair, stout, vigorous Venus, with large, bright,
vacant eyes, which were as blue as the flowers of the flax plant; she
had a large mouth with full lips, the mouth of a glutton, of a
sensualist, a mouth made for kisses. Well, one morning her father came
into my consulting room, with a strange look on his face, and, sitting
down, without even replying to my greeting, he said:

"'I want to speak to you about a very serious matter.... Would it be
possible ... would it be possible for Bertha to marry?'

"'Bertha to marry!... Why, it is quite impossible!'

"'Yes, I know, I know,' he replied.... 'But reflect, Doctor ... don't
you think ... perhaps ... we hoped ... if she had children ... it would
be a great shock to her, but a great happiness, and ... who knows
whether maternity might not rouse her intellect...?'

"I was in a state of great perplexity. He was right, and it was possible
that such a new situation, and that wonderful instinct of maternity
which beats in the hearts of the lower animals, as it does in the heart
of a woman, which makes the hen fly at a dog's jaws to defend her
chickens, might bring about a revolution, an utter change in her vacant
mind, and set the motionless mechanism of her thoughts into movement.
And then, moreover, I immediately remembered a personal instance. Some
years previously I had possessed a spaniel bitch who was so stupid that
I could do nothing with her, but when she had had pups she became, if
not exactly intelligent, yet almost like many other dogs who have not
been thoroughly broken.

"As soon as I foresaw the possibility of this, the wish to get Bertha
married grew in me, not so much out of friendship for her and her poor
parents, as from scientific curiosity. What would happen? It was a
singular problem, and I said to her father:

"'Perhaps you are right ... You might make the attempt ... but ... but
you will never find a man to consent to marry her.'

"'I have found somebody,' he said in a low voice.

"I was dumbfounded, and said: 'Somebody really suitable? ... Some one of
your own rank and position in society?'

"'Decidedly,' he replied.

"'Oh! And may I ask his name?'

"'I came on purpose to tell you, and to consult you. It is Monsieur
Gaston du Boys de Lucelles.'

"I felt inclined to exclaim: 'What a wretch,' but I held my tongue, and
after a few moments' silence, I said:

"'Oh! Very good. I see nothing against it.'

"The poor man sh