We returned to Médintiltas after breakfast. When I found Dr. Froeber
alone, I told him that I believed the Count was unwell, that he had had
frightful dreams, was possibly a somnambulist and would be dangerous in
that condition.
"I am aware of all that," said the doctor. "With an athletic
organisation he is at the same time as nervous as a highly strung woman.
Perhaps he gets it from his mother.... She has been devilishly bad
to-day.... I do not believe much in stories of fright and longings of
pregnant women; but one thing is certain, the Countess is mad, and
madness can be inherited...."
"But the Count," I returned, "is perfectly sane: his mind is sound, he
has much higher intelligence than, I admit, I should have expected; he
loves reading...."
"I grant it, my dear sir, I grant it; but he is often eccentric.
Sometimes he shuts himself up for several days; often he roams about at
night. He reads unheard-of books.... German metaphysics ... physiology,
and I know not what! Even yesterday a package of them came from Leipzig.
Must I speak plainly? A Hercules needs a Hebe. There are some very
pretty peasant girls here.... On Saturday evenings, when they have
washed, you might mistake them for princesses.... There is not one of
them but would be only too proud to distract my lord. I, at his age,
devil take me!... No, he has no mistress; he will not marry, it is
wrong. He ought to have something to occupy his mind."
The doctor's coarse materialism shocked me extremely, and I abruptly
terminated the conversation by saying that I sincerely wished that Count
Szémioth should find a wife worthy of him. I was surprised, I must
admit, when I learnt from the doctor of the Count's taste for
philosophical studies. It went against all my preconceived ideas that
this officer of the Hussars, this ardent sportsman, should read German
metaphysics and engage himself in physiology. The doctor spoke the
truth, however, as I had proof thereof even that very day.
"How do you explain, Professor," he said to me suddenly towards the
close of dinner--"how do you explain the _duality_ or the _twofold
nature_ of our being?"