As to the woman Gudgeon,
who laid claim to be her mother, he thought she was suffering from a
delusion--a beneficent delusion--in supposing the model to be her
daughter. And now he thought that this beautiful phantom from the
spirit-world had been recalled because his picture was complete. When
I entered the studio he was just starting for the second time, as he
told me, to the woman's house, in the belief that the body of the
girl which he had seen lying on a mattress was a delusion--a
spiritual body, and must by this time have vanished.
I had reasons for wishing to prevent his going there and being again
brought into contact with the woman before I saw her myself. From my
first seeing the woman and the model, I had found it impossible to
believe that there could be any blood relationship between them, for
the girl's frame from head to foot was as delicate as the woman's
frame from head to foot was coarse and vulgar.
Naturally, therefore, it occurred to me that this was an excellent
opportunity to find out the truth of the matter.
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