But surely you will tell me your reasons for constituting yourself my physician without even asking my leave." He laughed, and his eyes looked very friendly.
"Mademoiselle, I am one of those strangely constituted beings who cannot bear to see any innocent thing suffer.

It matters not whether it be a worm in the dust, a butterfly in the air, a bird, a flower, or a human creature.

The first time I saw you I knew that your state of health precluded you from the enjoyment of life natural to your sex and age.

I also perceived that the physicians had been at work upon you trying to probe into the causes of your ailment, and that they had signally failed.

Physicians, mademoiselle, are very clever and estimable men, and there are a few things which come within the limit of their treatment; but there are also other things which baffle their utmost profundity of knowledge.