Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-02-25
Octave smiled family, as if to thank the

bat do not be too hasty. Although
YOU have no trouble with your heart nj
tubercles on the lungs, no softening OF tn
spinal column, neither nervous nor typholt
fever. it does not follow that you are II
good health. Give me your hand.
Surprising that he wished to feel hi
pulse. and expecting him to pull out hi
watch. Octave drew up his sleeve and helC
out his wrist. Without touching the pulse
| however, NJ Cherbonneau took in hi
brown, thin, bony paw, whose fingers wer'
ike the claws of crab, the slender, soft
veined hand of the young man. He felt it
he pressed it, he kneaded it, he worked it
as If to put himself in magnetic communi
cation with his subject. Octave, although
somewhat of skeptic regarding medicine
could not control sort of nervous sensa
ton. It seemed plain that the doctor held
his very soul in his hand, and he became
pale as death Monsieur said the ply,
| stefan, cit is a much more serious matter
than you fancy and science-the science
at least of the old routine school of Europe
can do nothing for you. You have nc
longer the least desire to live, and gradual.
ly the links connecting the soul with the
body are being severed. You are not a
| hypochondriac you have no melancholy
monomanis. no tendency to suicide. It is
a most singular case very curious, unique,
in fact but for my opposing force you
might die without any perceptlble internal
or external lesion. 1t was quite time to
call me in, for your lie hangs by single
thread, but we viii strengthen and knot it
firmly and the doctor rubbed his hands
rrfa - l.
face was covered with Thousand wrinkles.
M. Cherbonneau. do not know if you
will really cure me, and, to be quite frank,
have ne desire that you should do SO
but | must tell you that you have imme.
diately discovered the cause of my illness.
The life | lead according to my usual
habits and to satisfy my friends seems SO
far removed from me that | feel sometimes
a. if | myself am completely outside of any
human sphere; | come and 90 mechan-
ically, like an automaton, but feel no in
terest in anything. l place myself at the
table at the usual hours, and I eat and
drink to all appearance; but perceive no
flavor in the highly seasoned dishes or the
strongest wines. | am chilly in midsum-
mer. There seems within me an awful
silence, as if my heart had ceased beating.
and as if the interior mechanism had ceased
to work. It is like death, provided those
who are dead are conscious of being SO"
g You have, in. fact" said the doctor,
"a chronic incapacity for life, mental
difficulty, and not so uncommon as people
suppose it to be. Mind is an enormous
force, which kills as surely as prussic acid,
although its effects are not easily ascer-
tanned by those feeble means of analysis at
the disposal of ordinary science. What
grief is eating out your heart? From what
hight of social ambition have you fallen,
bruised and wounded? What bitter de-
spairing thought is your inseparable CON-
panion in your loneliness Is it thirst for
power which torments you? Have you
renowned utterly all ambitions within the
reach of humanity F.? You are very young
too young for that. Have you been de-
ceived by a woman?
No, DOCTOR" said Octave, Z" have not
even had that happiness
Nevertheless, l read in your heavy
eyes, in the languor of your entire frame,
in the dull tone of your voice, the title of
one of Shakespeare's plays"
And what may this play be which, IN
consciously, l illustrate ?"
Loves Labor's Lost" answered the
doctor, his purity of accent indicating a
long residence in British India.
Octave made no reply but colored
slightly, aud played with the fastenings of
his robe de chambre. The doctor crossed
one leg over the other, holding his foot in his
hand in the Eastern custom, his blue eyes
fixed uuwavering on those of Octava, as if
questioning them imperiously.
g AHoHs, open your heart to me am a
physician of souls, you are my patient,
and, like the priest to his penitent, de-
mand full confession.
''And to what end? Even supposing
you are right, to tell you my grief will not
soften IL no human power, not even
yours, will cure me"
Perhaps" and the doctor squared him
self in his chair, as if anticipating a con,
fidence of some length.
81 do not wish, said 0ctave. I" to give
you cause for accusing me of childish OBJ
stinacy, and, since you insist, / will tell
you my story. You have OWNED the main
fact, and we will not discuss the details.
Do not expect anything singular or ro-
mantle. 1t is the old story, very simple,
very common, very trite yet he who suf-
fers finds it always new. It is really
absurd to tell so hackneyed an experience
to a man who has SO long resided in a
country stepped in the atmosphere of fancy
and Imagination"
''Do not hesitate; it is only the COM
mon-p place which excites my wonder" said
the doctor, with smile.
IL
T., 10 lxy oufr of / IN
Florence l had leisure, money, and good
good spirits and ready to amuse myself |
established myself on the Lung Arno;
engaged caleche, and gave myself up to
all the charms of Florentine life, so at.
tractive to foreigner. In the morning
visited church, a gallery, or a palace,
without hurrying myself into an indigestion
de chefs dsuUre, which so often gives the
energetic, indefatiagble tourist disgust
for art. Sometimes enjoyed the doors
of the baptistry, sometimes the Perseus by
Benvenuto, or the portrait of the For.
marina, again Canova's Venus, but only one
at a time. Then / breakfasted on CUP
of iced coffee; / smoked, glanced at the
Journals, and, with boutcnniere from
one of the pretty flower girls stationed
in front of the cafe, l returned for my
siesta at 8 o'clock my caleche took me tc
the Cascini-the Bois de Boulogne of Flor
ence, with this difference, that there every
body knows everybody, the center being
sim ply salon in the open air, where fau
teuils are replaced by equipages drawn NJ
/ in a semi-circle women in full toilet re
ceiving their lovers and admirers, who
stand hat in hand on the carriage steps
But you know all this as well as l. Theil
plans for the evening and appointments arr
made, invitations given and accepted. L
is, in short, a pleasure exchange, open from
3 to 5, under the shade of beautiful tree
and the light of the softest, most delicious
sky in the universe If one does not pu
in daily appearance, he is dropped from
the magic circle of society. / never failed
to be there, and in the evening after din
ing / visited some salons. or heard som,
cantatrice well worth listening to.
g In this way passed one of the hap
piest months of my life, but my happines
was of short duration. One afternoon 8
superb equipage made its appearance at tn
Cascini. 1t was not empty, as you ma,
have fancied. but in its rapid course Their