“I’m sure I have no reason to refuse,” she said.  “What would you suggest?”

“Well, first of all, there is a very simple test I’d like to try.  You won’t find that it bothers you in the least—­and if I can’t help you, then no harm is done.”

Again I watched Kennedy as he tactfully went through the preparations for another kind of psychanalysis, placing Miss Haversham at her ease on a davenport in such a way that nothing would distract her attention.  As she reclined against the leather pillows in the shadow it was not difficult to understand the lure by which she held together the little coterie of her intimates.  One beautiful white arm, bare to the elbow, hung carelessly over the edge of the davenport, displaying a plain gold bracelet.

“Now,” began Kennedy, on whom I knew the charms of Miss Haversham produced a negative effect, although one would never have guessed it from his manner, “as I read off from this list of words, I wish that you would repeat the first thing, anything,” he emphasized, “that comes into your head, no matter how trivial it may seem.  Don’t force yourself to think.  Let your ideas flow naturally.  It depends altogether on your paying attention to the words and answering as quickly as you can—­remember, the first word that comes into your mind.  It is easy to do.  We’ll call it a game,” he reassured.

Kennedy handed a copy of the list to me to record the answers.  There must have been some fifty words, apparently senseless, chosen at random, it seemed.  They were: 

 head to dance salt white lie

 green sick new child to fear

 water pride to pray sad stork

 to sing ink money to marry false

 death angry foolish dear anxiety

 long needle despise to quarrel to kiss

 ship voyage finger old bride

 to pay to sin expensive family pure

 window bread to fall friend ridicule

 cold rich unjust luck to sleep

“The Jung association word test is part of the Freud psychanalysis, also,” he whispered to me, “You remember we tried something based on the same idea once before?”

I nodded.  I had heard of the thing in connection with blood-pressure tests, but not this way.

Kennedy called out the first word, “Head,” while in his hand he held a stop watch which registered to one-fifth of a second.

Quickly she replied, “Ache,” with an involuntary movement of her hand toward her beautiful forehead.

“Good,” exclaimed Kennedy.  “You seem to grasp the idea better than most of my patients.”

I had recorded the answer, he the time, and we found out, I recall afterward, that the time averaged something like two and two-fifths seconds.