“I had long suspected that she was a sick woman,” said the alienist in response to a question from Father Lopes. “Her moderation in all other matters was hard to reconcile with her mania for silks, velvets, laces, and jewelry, a mania that began immediately after her return from Rio de Janeiro. It was then that I started to observe her closely. Her conversation was always about these objects. If I talked to her about the royal courts of earlier times, she wanted to know what kind of clothes the women wore. If a lady visited her while I was out, the first thing my wife told me, even before mentioning the purpose of the visit, was how the woman was dressed and which jewels or articles of clothing were pretty and which were ugly. Once (I think Your Reverence will remember this) she said she was going to make a new dress every year for Our Lady of the Mother Church. All these symptoms indicated a serious condition. Tonight, however, the full gravity of her illness became manifest. She had selected the entire outfit she would wear to the ball and had it all fixed and ready. All except one thing: she couldn’t decide between a garnet necklace and a sapphire necklace. The day before yesterday she asked me which she should wear. I told her it didn’t matter, that they both were very becoming. Yesterday at lunch she repeated the question. After dinner she was silent and pensive. I asked her what was the matter. ‘I want to wear my beautiful garnet necklace, but my sapphire one is so lovely.’ ‘Then wear the sapphire necklace.’ ‘But then I can’t wear the garnet necklace.’ In the middle of the night, about half-past one, I awoke. She was not in bed. I got up and went to the dressing-room. There she sat with the two necklaces, in front of the mirror, trying on first one and then the other. An obvious case of dementia. I had her put away immediately.”

Father Lopes said nothing. The explanation did not wholly satisfy him. Perceiving this, the alienist told him that the specific illness of Dona Evarista was vestimania; it was by no means incurable.

“I hope to have her well within two weeks and, in any event, I expect to learn a great deal from the study of her case,” said the alienist in conclusion.

This personal sacrifice greatly enhanced the public image of the illustrious doctor. Suspicion, distrust, accusations were all negated by the commitment of his own wife whom he loved with all his heart. No one could ever again charge him with motives other than those of science itself. He was beyond doubt a man of integrity and profound objectivity, a combination of Cato and Hippocrates.

XI. Release and Joy