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That, father, is what has happened to your wife, and it may be that something has grieved her recently, for she, of course, hated nothing at all. However that may be, she has a seizure, at all events, and in the circumstances cannot be cured by a physician. If anyone else should engage to do it, if anyone — should relieve her, you may then hate me as offending against you. Indeed, father, I shall not hesitate to say further that even if her case were not so wholly desperate, but some hope of saving her still were in sight, even then I should not have undertaken her case lightly or ventured to prescribe for her out of hand, fearing mischance and the slanderous tongues of the common sort. You are aware that everybody thinks that all stepmothers entertain some hatred of their stepsons, even if they are good women, and that in this they suffer from a sort of insanity affecting women in common. Perhaps someone would have suspected, if the ailment had gone badly and the’ remedies had not been effective, that the treatment had been malevolent and treacherous.
