well, mrs. hillyer, the girl is strong as an ox and that is what is keeping her alive. but not many people walk away from double pneumonia, madam, not many.
of course she does and i must say i'm puzzled by your delay in getting her to the hospital. i should think ordinary powers of observation would have suggested to you that she was seriously ill.
afraid of the hospital?
a tenant farm? are you trying to tell me that girl is a product of the hookworm and pellagra belt?
exactly, and that's why she couldn't possibly have come from such a farm.
it's simply that i find it incredible, mr. hillyer. aside from the girl's illness at the moment, she is very strong, a very healthy specimen of a young human female -- and a comely one, too. she must have gotten protein somewhere as a young child, if only sporadically.
the point is you don't grow up like that on a diet of sorghum and hominy grits. she got protein somewhere, she's a very strong girl and i think she'll live.  despite the delay in medical treatment.
i beg your pardon, epi-zoo-tics? do you mean "epi-zoo-ot-tics," an animal epidemic?
let me be the judge of that, madam.
oh, yes. yes. just fine. a few more days.  a little more rest.  she'll be perfectly healthy.
i'm not surprised you thought she was pregnant. an ovarian cyst can look very much like pregnancy. but it was pure wishful thinking on her part. the girl can never have children, she had gonorrhea at fifteen and it was untreated.
don't worry, madam, she can't infect your dear little kiddies. she long ago fully recovered, but the disease did irreparable damage. the girl is permanently barren.
we make our own lives, madam. as for malignancy, i don't think so, it's very unlikely. i probably shouldn't have even mentioned that possibility to her.
she's an adult, mrs. hillyer, i was merely giving her the facts.
any major operation is dangerous. however, as we know from her previous illness, she's a very strong girl.
oh, it's definitely better, beyond question. a fatherless child, an ignorant girl with no job, no money, no home. it's fortunate, a blessing really, and a stroke of good luck for another reason i want to mention to you.
i'm sorry the truth nauseates you, mrs. hillyer, because before you leave there's a bit more of it i'd like to put to you. this operation provides a therapeutic opportunity that i feel is quite important in regard to this particular girl, who suffers not only from an ovarian cyst but from a certain psychoneurotic condition as well.
first, about the girl's history. evidently she's been very promiscuous since early childhood, she has no control over her sexual impulses. furthermore, she is permanently barren, she can't have children.
i am thinking particularly of the other ovary. as a rule i don't believe in removing it. the woman's hormonal system is profoundly disturbed, she is subject to possibly serious depression, she loses many of her secondary sexual characteristics for example, her breasts might shrink and become flabby, facial hair might appear along with a coarsening of the features, and of course her sexual drive is greatly diminished, especially in a girl or young woman. for these reasons i am opposed to removing the other ovary, as a rule. do you follow me?
then.  may i speak quite frankly with you, mr. hillyer?
i have of course observed the girl in treating her.
i think we both know her.
mrs. hillyer, this girl is sick in more ways than one. she is an extreme psychoneurotic with uncontrollable sexual impulses. it would be a mercy to spare her the suffering she causes herself and others. therefore i recommend as a therapeutic measure the removal of her second ovary. it is ethically and medically the only proper decision in this case and i suspect your husband agrees with me.
illusions, madam?
now, may i say, i am against that particular procedure, as a general rule. but in a case of near nymphomania, it doesn't seem monstrous to me at all, but medically advisable.
yes, i understand you, but you have misunderstood me completely.
actually of course i won't operate, i don't do major surgery. dr. hardy will operate and of course he'll be guided by your wishes in this respect.