“Show me your tongue, which you know so well how to use,” said the doctor, with a smile; and he pushed down Jeanne’s lower jaw with the end of his finger. After having had his pupils successively, and for some time, feel and examine the subject’s tongue, in order to ascertain its colour and dryness, Jeanne, overcoming her fear for a moment, said, in a tremulous voice:
“Sir, I was going to say to you, my neighbours, who are as poor as myself, have been so kind as to take care of my children for a week only, which is a great deal; so at the end of that time I must be back home again. So I beg of you, in God’s name, to cure me as quickly as you can, or nearly so, that I may return to work; and I have but a week before me,—for—”
“Discoloured face,—complete state of prostration,—yet the pulse
