And after that he would call me Alice, or some other name almost equally repugnant to my feelings.

I forced myself to endure it for a while, fearing a contradiction might disturb him too much; but when, having asked for a glass of water, while I held it to his lips, he murmured, 'Thanks, dearest!' I could not help distinctly observing, 'You would not say so if you knew me,' intending to follow that up with another declaration of my identity; but he merely muttered an incoherent reply, so I dropped it again, till some time after, when, as I was bathing his forehead and temples with vinegar and water to relieve the heat and pain in his head, he observed, after looking earnestly upon me for some minutes, 'I have such strange fancies--I can't get rid of them, and they won't let me rest; and the most singular and pertinacious of them all is your face and voice--they seem just like hers.

I could swear at this moment that she was by my side.' 'She is,' said I.
'That seems comfortable,' continued he, without noticing my words; 'and while you do it, the other fancies fade away--but this only strengthens .-- Go on--go on, till it vanishes, too.

I can't stand such a mania as this; it would kill me!' 'It never will vanish,' said I, distinctly, 'for it is the truth!' 'The truth!' he cried, starting, as if an asp had stung him.

'You don't mean to say that you are really she ?' 'I do; but you needn't shrink away from me, as if I were your greatest enemy: I am come to take care of you, and do what none of them would do.' 'For God's sake, don't torment me now!' cried he in pitiable agitation; and then he began to mutter bitter curses against me, or the evil fortune that had brought me there; while I put down the sponge and basin, and resumed my seat at the bed-side.
'Where are they ?' said he: 'have they all left me--servants and all ?' 'There are servants within call if you want them; but you had better lie down now and be quiet: none of them could or would attend you as carefully as I shall do.' 'I can't understand it at all,' said he, in bewildered perplexity.