impulse of tenderness from his wife. And while we are upon this
subject, another saying will paint the man for you.

"Claudine went home again, made up some kind of tale as best she could
to account for her bruised forehead, and fell dangerously ill. An
abscess formed in the head. The doctor--Bianchon, I believe--yes, it
was Bianchon--wanted to cut off her hair. The Duchesse de Berri's hair
is not more beautiful than Claudine's; she would not hear of it, she
told Bianchon in confidence that she could not allow it to be cut
without leave from the Comte de Palferine. Bianchon went to Charles
Edward. Charles Edward heard him with much seriousness. The doctor had
explained the case at length, and showed that it was absolutely
necessary to sacrifice the hair to insure the success of the
operation.

"'Cut off Claudine's hair!' cried he in peremptory tones. 'No. I
would sooner lose her.'

"Even now, after a lapse of four years, Bianchon still quotes that
speech; we have laughed over it for half an hour together. Claudine,
informed of the verdict, saw in it a proof of affections; she felt
sure that she was loved. In the face of her weeping family, with her
husband on his knees, she was inexorable. She kept the hair. The
strength that came with the belief that she was loved came to her aid,
the operation succeeded perfectly. There are stirrings of the inner
life which throw all the calculations of surgery into disorder and
baffle the laws of medical science.

"Claudine wrote a delicious letter to La Palferine, a letter in which
the orthography was doubtful and the punctuation all to seek, to tell