"I am afraid they do; when we kick them."

Mrs. Dodd smiled at the admission implied here, and the deep penitence it
was uttered with. But Julia remonstrated, "Oh no! no! don't laugh at me,
but help me within your advice: you are so wise and so experienced: you
must have been a girl before you were an angel. You _must_ know what is
the matter with me. Oh, do pray cure me, or else kill me, for I cannot go
on like this, all my affections deadened and my peace disturbed."

And now the mother looked serious and thoughtful enough; and the daughter
watched her furtively. "Julia," said Mrs. Dodd, very gravely, "if it was
not my child, reared under my eye, and never separated from me a single
day, I should say, this young lady is either afflicted with some
complaint, and it affects her nerves and spirits; or else she has--she
is--what inexperienced young people call 'in love.' You need not look so
frightened, child; nobody in their senses suspects _you_ of imprudence or
indelicacy; and therefore I feel quite sure that your constitution is at
a crisis, or your health has suffered some shock--pray Heaven it may not
be a serious one. You will have the best advice, and without delay, I
promise you."

That very evening, Mrs. Dodd sent a servant into the town with a note
like a cocked-hat for Mr. Osmond, a consulting surgeon, who bore a high
reputation in Barkington. He came, and proved too plump for that complete
elegance she would have desired in a medical attendant; but had a soft
hand, a gentle touch, and a subdued manner. He spoke to the patient with
a kindness which won the mother directly; had every hope of setting her
right without any violent or disagreeable remedies; but, when she had
retired, altered his tone; and told Mrs. Dodd seriously she had done well
to send for him in time: it was a case of "Hyperaesthesia" (Mrs. Dodd