CHAPTER 18I went up; Rombeau was dining with Rodin that evening.Determined to stick at nothing to clarify my mistress' fate, I hidmyself near the room where the two friends were at table, and theirconversation was more than enough to convince me of the horror ofthe project wherewith both were occupied. It was Rodin who wasspeaking: "Anatomy will never reach its ultimate state ofperfection until an examination has been performed upon the vaginalcanal of a fourteen- or fifteen-yearold child who has expired froma cruel death; it is only from the contingent contraction we canobtain a complete analysis of a so highly interesting part." "Thesame holds true," Rombeau replied, "for the hymeneal membrane; wemust, of course, find a young girl for the dissection. What thedeuce is there to be seen aft
