Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

After the first excitement was over, Alexandra noticed how exhausted she was. "My
energy walked away with this man," she said with a happy laugh.
They closed their practice and went home together.
When the man returned much excited a few days later, Alexandra found that the
swellings of his joints had deminished somewhat, his back was still bent, but neither it nor his
hands gave him any pain.
Alexandra controlled her euphoria carefully: she had succeeded in curing the man—it
was a miracle after all! To prevent being mobbed by people seeking help, Alexandra sternly
ordered the man to keep strict silence about this dramatic event. He was a simple person, so
she did the frivolous thing of putting the fear of a relapse into him should the word of his cure
spread.
Alexandra called skeptical Helena to witness the positive changes in the man’s joints
and posture. Helena was very pensive.
In the following months Alexandra tried to cure other patients in this manner but made the
discouraging discovery that she was successful only half the time. The cases were similar, all
involved arthritic swellings. Sometimes the inflamation receded and sometimes nothing
happened at all. She could not explain why. The intensity of her involvement seemed the
same, her exhaustion too. However, whatever improvement she did get seemed permanent, at
least for the weeks she had been trying this method.
Perhaps, she thought, I don’t love them all equally. That would be the simplest
explanation. But maybe other unspecified dissimilarities existed between these cases. For a
long time the old man remained her greatest success.
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