The young lady whom we have known as The Terror,as Lurida,as Miss Vincent,Secretary of the Pansophian Society,had been reading various works selected for her by Dr.Butts,--works chiefly relating to the nervous system and its different affections.She thought it was about time to talk over the general subject of the medical profession with her new teacher,--if such a self-directing person as Lurida could be said to recognize anybody as teacher.
She began at the beginning."What is the first book you would put in a student's hands,doctor?"she said to him one day.They were in his study,and Lurida had just brought back a thick volume on Insanity,one of Bucknill and Puke's,which she had devoured as if it had been a pamphlet.
"Not that book,certainly,"he said."I am afraid it will put all sorts of notions into your head.Who or what set you to reading that,I should like to know?""I found it on one of your shelves,and as I thought I might perhaps be crazy some time or other,I felt as if I should like to know what kind of a condition insanity is.I don't believe they were ever very bright,those insane people,most of them.I hope I am not stupid enough ever to lose my wits.""There is no telling,my dear,what may happen if you overwork that busy brain of yours.But did n't it make you nervous,reading about so many people possessed with such strange notions?""Nervous?Not a bit.I could n't help thinking,though,how many people I had known that had a little touch of craziness about them.
