Their physician said, however, that there was no
definite nervous disease.
As a young child the parents never thought this girl in any way
different from the rest of the family. As she grew older she has
been regarded as physically the most robust, but, as she stated
to us, she has done the poorest intellectual work and that has
often been a matter of family comment. The other children are
careful truth tellers.
The type of Janet's lying has been not only in the form of
falsifications about matters which directly concerned herself,
but also involved extensive manufacture of long stories,
phantasies. Meeting people she might give them extensive
accounts of the wealth and importance of her own family. She
once spread the report that her sister was married and living in
a fine home close by, giving many elaborate details of the new
household. Such stories naturally caused much family
embarrassment. Then she worked up an imaginary entertainment and
gave invitations to her brothers and sister at the request of a
pretended hostess. Just before the event she, simulating the
hostess, telephoned that an accident had taken place and the
party would not be given.
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