"'Is not that the doctor's voice that I hear?' asked Monsieur C. from the top of the staircase; 'beg him to come up. Just imagine,' he said to me, 'I was going to send for you. Nearly an hour ago my wife lost consciousness, and her mother and I have not been able to bring her to her senses. Her mother, who wished to take her into the country, is distracted....' "I did not dare to confess myself guilty of this catastrophe, but was betrayed by Madame C., who gave me her hand, saying, 'You did well to put me to sleep, Doctor, because I was going to allow myself to be taken away, and then I should not have been able to finish my embroidery.' "'You have another piece of embroidery in hand?' "'Yes; a mantle-border ... for your birthday. You must not look as though you knew about it, when I am awake, because I want to give you a surprise.' * * * * * "I repeated the experiment many times with Madame C., and always with success, which was a great help to me when unable to go to her at once when sent for. I even completed the experiment by also _waking_ her from a distance, solely by an act of volition, which formerly I should not have believed possible. The agreement in time was so perfect that no doubt could be entertained. "To conclude, I was about to take a holiday of six weeks, and should thus be absent when one of the attacks was due. So it was settled between Monsieur C. and myself that, as soon as the headache began, he should let me know by telegraph; that I should then do from afar off what succeeded so well near at hand; that after five or six hours I should endeavour to awaken the patient; and that Monsieur C. should let me know by means of a second telegram whether the result had been satisfactory. He had no doubt about it; I was less certain. Madame C. did not know that I was going away. "The sound of moanings one morning announced to Monsieur C. that the moment had come; without entering his wife's room he ran to the telegraph office, and I received his message at ten o'clock. He returned home again at that same hour, and found his wife asleep and not suffering any more. At four o'clock I willed that she should wake, and at eight o'clock in the evening I received a second telegram: 'Satisfactory result, woke at four o'clock. Thanks.' "And I was then in the neighbourhood of Sully-sur-Loire, 28 leagues--112 kilometres--from Blois."