cient to devote his rights to her, and
she began to suffer in consequence. She used to wait for him from
morning till night, with her eyes on the clock; she did not even look
after the meals now, for he took all his away from home, _Clermont,
Chatel-Guyon, Royat_, no matter where, as long as he was not obliged
to come home.

"She began to grow thin; every other thought, every other wish, every
other expectation and every other confused hope, disappeared from her
mind, and the hours during which she did not see him, became hours of
terrible suffering to her. Soon he used frequently not to come home at
night; he spent them with women at the casino at _Royat_, and did not
come home until daybreak. But she never went to bed before he returned.
She remained sitting motionless in an easy chair, with her eyes fixed on
the clock, which turned so slowly and regularly round the china face, on
which the hours were painted.

"She heard the trot of his horse in the distance, and sat up with a
start, and when he came into the room, she got up with the movements of
a phantom, and pointed to the clock, as if to say to him: 'Look how late
it is!'

"And he began to be afraid of this amorous and jealous, half-witted
woman, and flew into a rage, like brutes do; and one night, he even went
so far as to strike her, so they sent for me. When I arrived she was
writhing and screaming, in a terrible crisis of pain, anger, passion,
how do I know what? Can one tell what goes on in such undeveloped
brains?

"I calmed her by subcutaneous injections of morphine, and forbade her to
see that man again, for I saw clearly that marriage would infallibly
kill her, by degrees."

* * * * *

"Then she went mad! Yes, my dear friend, that idiot has gone mad. She is
always thinking of him and waiting for him; she waits for him all day
and night, awake or asleep, at this very moment, ceaselessly. When I saw
her getting thinner and thinner, and as she persisted in never taking
her eyes off the clocks, I had them removed from the house. I thus made
it impossible for her to count the hours, and to try to remember, from
her indistinct reminiscences, at what time he used to come home,
formerly. I hope to destroy the recollection of it in time, and to
extinguish that ray of thought which I kindled with so much difficulty.

"The other day, I tried an experiment. I offered her my watch; she took
it and looked at it for some time; t