"Will I discommode your household, Doctor?" she asked abruptly. "Not at all," I answered immediately, in hearty reassurance.

"You are a gentleman, I perceive." She smiled a dry, sad smile and followed me without further comment.

***

The next morning found her improved still more in her speech and bearing, but still without any return of memory beyond the past three days. The housemaid served her breakfast in her room. Later in the morning I took the opportunity to conduct a more thorough neurological examination upon her. The results gave me food for thought. I found her reflexes and perceptions unimpaired. She could read with understanding and write, after some initial hesitation, without difficulty. Her understanding of mathematics was unhesitant and surprisingly good, from simple arithmetic through elementary calculus, but she could not remember how she had learned it. I became increasingly convinced that she had not suffered organic brain damage at all, and that the cause of her amnesia must be searched for among purely psychological factors. When not forced to engage in necessary or requested activities, she returned to her earlier quiet and withdrawn mode, not speaking unless spoken to directly.

In the course of the morning as I encountered, not for the first time, some conversational awkwardness in addressing a lady with no name, and as she objected to the appellation of Violet Sacker, I elected to christen her "Miss Smith." "Miss Smith?" her attention riveted upon the name in sudden concentration. "Miss Smith..." she repeated slowly.

"Could it be that I have hit upon your real name by accident?" I cried in astonishment.

She shook her head with a puzzled frown. "No, I don't think so," she said. "But it must be very close. Smith. Smith."