"She was an extraordinary artist and her life was more extraordinary," said Dr. Kimball. "I heard her début at the Opéra Comique. For ten years her name was the gossip of all Europe. Then all at once she meets a man whom no one knows, falls in love, and is transformed. These women are really extraordinary examples of hysteria. Each time I know one it makes me understand the scientific phenomenon of Mary Magdalene. It is really a case of nerve reaction. The moral fever that is the fiercest burns itself out the quickest and seems to leave no trace behind. In this case love came also as a religious conversion. I should say the phenomena were identical."
"She was happy," said the curé, turning to go.
"Yes, it was a great romance."
"A rare one. She adored him. Love is a tide that cleanses all."
"Yet she was of the stage up to the last. You know she would not have her husband in the room at the end."
"She had a great heart," said the curé quietly. "She wished to spare him that suffering."
"She had an extraordinary will," said the doctor, glancing at him quickly. He added, tentatively: "She asked two questions that were curious enough."
"Indeed," said the curé, lingering a moment with his hand on the gate.
"She wanted to know whether persons in a delirium talked of the past and if after death the face returned to its calm."
"What did you say to her about the effects of delirium?" said the curé with his blank face.