第18章

She invited me into the little back parlor, closed the door; and we were alone.We sat down facing each other.Then she asked my age.Then she put her hands before her eyes a moment, and commenced talking as if she had a good deal to say and not much time to say it in.Something after this style:

MADAME.Yours is a watery planet; you gain your livelihood on the water;but you should have been a lawyer--there is where your talents lie: you might have distinguished yourself as an orator, or as an editor; you have written a great deal; you write well--but you are rather out of practice;no matter--you will be in practice some day; you have a superb constitution, and as excellent health as any man in the world; you have great powers of endurance; in your profession your strength holds out against the longest sieges, without flagging; still, the upper part of your lungs, the top of them is slightly affected--you must take care of yourself; you do not drink, but you use entirely too much tobacco; and you must stop it; mind, not moderate, but stop the use of it totally;then I can almost promise you 86 when you will surely die; otherwise look out for 28, 31, 34, 47, and 65; be careful--for you are not of a long-lived race, that is on your father's side; you are the only healthy member of your family, and the only one in it who has anything like the certainty of attaining to a great age--so, stop using tobacco, and be careful of yourself.....In some respects you take after your father, but you are much more like your mother, who belongs to the long-lived, energetic side of the house....You never brought all your energies to bear upon any subject but what you accomplished it--for instance, you are self-made, self-educated.

S.L.C.Which proves nothing.

MADAME.Don't interrupt.When you sought your present occupation you found a thousand obstacles in the way--obstacles unknown--not even suspected by any save you and me, since you keep such matters to yourself--but you fought your way, and hid the long struggle under a mask of cheerfulness, which saved your friends anxiety on your account.To do all this requires all the qualities I have named.

S.L.C.You flatter well, Madame.

MADAME.Don't interrupt: Up to within a short time you had always lived from hand to mouth-now you are in easy circumstances--for which you need give credit to no one but yourself.The turning point in your life occurred in 1840-7-8.

S.L.C.Which was?

MADAME.A death perhaps, and this threw you upon the world and made you what you are; it was always intended that you should make yourself;therefore, it was well that this calamity occurred as early as it did.