Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/202

124 her that you would do something for her. The best thing would be to send her to a hospital. There she would be furnished, gratis, an appliance for the reduction of her leg. But at the word 'hospital' she cried that that would finish her, and all the old gossips joined in chorus. However, when one hasn't a penny"

"I will bear the small expense necessary, doctor. I confess that that word terrifies me also, in spite of myself, like the gossips of whom you speak. Moreover, to remove her to a hospital, now that she is in such a horrible condition, would be the death of her."

"Prejudice! pure prejudice on the part of the public. One is nowhere as well off as in a hospital, and when my time comes to be ferried over the Styx, it is from there that I wish to embark in Charon's boat; I shall bequeath my body to the students—thirty or forty years hence, of course. Seriously, my dear, consider well: I am not sure that your protégée is worthy of your interest. She appears to me like some ballet girl—it requires the legs of a ballet dancer to make a leap like that so happily"

"But I have seen her at the church—and, well, doctor, you know my weakness; I construct a complete story upon a face, a glance. Laugh as much as you please, I am rarely de-