Do not fatigue yourself any more, mademoiselle, by talking.

With your permission I will sit down here opposite to you and tell you my story.

Afterwards you must decide for yourself whether you will adopt the method of treatment to which I owe my life, and something more than my life--my reason." He turned his own library-chair towards me, and seated himself.

A few moments passed in silence; his expression was very earnest and absorbed, and he regarded my face with a sympathetic interest which touched me profoundly.

Though I felt myself becoming more and more enervated and apathetic as the time went on, and though I knew I was gradually sinking down again into my old Slough of Despond, yet I felt instinctively that I was somehow actively concerned in what was about to be said, therefore I forced myself to attend closely to every word uttered.