Yet there was hardly a Catholic she knew who regarded the
possibility in these days as more than a theoretical one. So she
hesitated, holding her judgment in suspense. One thing only she saw
clearly, and that was that she must act as if she believed the former
solution: she must treat the boy as one obsessed, whether indeed he
were so or not. There was no other manner in which she could
concentrate her force upon the heart of the struggle. If there were no
evil Personality in the affair, it was necessary to assume one.
And still she waited.
There came back to her an old childish memory.
Once, as a child of ten, she had had to undergo a small operation. One
of the nuns had taken her to the doctor's house. When she had
understood that she must come into the next room and have it done, she
had stopped dead. The nun had encouraged her.
"Leave me quite alone, please, Mother, just for one minute. Please
don't speak. I'll come in a minute."
After a minute's waiting, while they looked at her, she had gone
forward, sat down in the chair and behaved quite perfectly. Yes; she
understood that now. It was necessary first to collect forces, to
concentrate energies, to subdue the imagination: after that almost
anything could be borne.
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