"I"ll tell you the truth; his malady is as strong as yours; but he has the great advantage of being a man; and, again, of being a man of brains. He is a worker, and an inventor; and now, instead of succ.u.mbing tamely to his disorder, he is working double tides, and inventing with all his might, in order to remove an obstacle between him and one he loves with all his manly soul. A contest so n.o.ble and so perpetual sustains and fortifies the mind. He is indomitable; only, at times, his heart of steel will soften, and then he has fits of deep dejection and depression, which I mourn to see; for his manly virtues, and his likeness to one I loved deeply in my youth, have made him dear to me."
During this Grace turned her head away, and, ere the doctor ended, her tears were flowing freely; for to her, being a woman, this portrait of a male struggle with sorrow was far more touching than any description of feminine and unresisted grief could be: and, when the doctor said he loved his patient, she stole her little hand into his in a way to melt Old Nick, if he is a male. Ladies, forgive the unchivalrous doubt.
"Doctor," said she, affecting all of a sudden a little air of small sprightliness, very small, "now, do--you--think--it would do your patient--the least good in the world--if you were to take him this?"
She handed him her work, and then she blushed divinely.
"Why, it is a figure of Hope."
"Yes."
"I think it might do him a great deal of good."
"You could say I painted it for him."
"So I will. That will do him no harm neither. Shall I say I found you crying over it?"
"Oh, no! no! That would make him cry too, perhaps."
"Ah, I forgot that. Grace, you are an angel."
"Ah, no. But you can tell him I am--if you think so. That will do him no great harm--will it?"
"Not an atom to him; but it will subject me to a pinch for stale news.
There, give me my patient"s picture, and let me go."
She kissed the little picture half-furtively, and gave it him, and let him go; only, as he went out at the door, she murmured, "Come often."
Now, when this artful doctor got outside the door, his face became grave all of a sudden, for he had seen enough to give him a degree of anxiety he had not betrayed to his interesting patient herself.
"Well, doctor?" said Mr. Carden, affecting more cheerfulness than he felt. "Nothing there beyond your skill, I suppose?"
"Her health is declining rapidly. Pale, hollow-eyed, listless, languid--not the same girl."
"Is it bodily do you think, or only mental?"
"Mental as to its cause; but bodily in the result. The two things are connected in all of us, and very closely in Miss Carden. Her organization is fine, and, therefore, subtle. She is tuned in a high key. Her sensibility is great; and tough folk, like you and me, must begin by putting ourselves in her place before we prescribe for her, otherwise our harsh hands may crush a beautiful, but too tender, flower."
"Good heavens!" said Carden, beginning to be seriously alarmed, "do you mean to say you think, if this goes on, she will be in any danger?"
"Why, if it were to go on at the same rate, it would be very serious.
She must have lost a stone in weight already."
"What, my child! my sweet Grace! Is it possible her life--"
"And do you think your daughter is not mortal like other people? The young girls that are carried past your door to the churchyard one after another, had they no fathers?"
At this blunt speech the father trembled from head to foot.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
"Doctor," said Mr. Carden, "you are an old friend, and a discreet man; I will confide the truth to you."
"You may save yourself the trouble. I have watched the whole progress of this amour up to the moment when you gave them the advantage of your paternal wisdom, and made them both miserable."
"It is very unreasonable of them, to be miserable."
"Oh, lovers parted could never yet make themselves happy with reason."
"But why do you say parted? All I said was, "No engagement till you can make a settlement: and don"t compromise her in the meanwhile." I did not mean to interdict occasional visits."
"Then why not say so? That is so like people. You made your unfavorable stipulation plain enough; but the little bit of comfort, you left that in doubt. This comes of not putting yourself in his place. I have had a talk with him about it, and he thinks he is not to show his face here till he is rich enough to purchase your daughter of you."
"But I tell you he has misunderstood me."
"Then write to him and say so."
"No, no; you take an opportunity to let him know he has really rather overrated my severity, and that I trust to his honor, and do not object to a visit--say once a week."
"It is a commission I will undertake with pleasure."
"And do you really think that will do her bodily health any good?"
Before Doctor Amboyne could reply, the piano was suddenly touched in the next room, and a sweet voice began to sing a cheerful melody. "Hush!"
said Doctor Amboyne. "Surely I know that tune. Yes, I have heard THE OTHER whistle it."
"She has not sung for ever so long," remarked Mr. Carden.
"And I think I can tell you why she is singing now: look at this picture of Hope; I just told her I had a male patient afflicted with her complaint, and the quick-witted creature asked me directly if I thought this picture would do him any good. I said yes, and I"d take it to him."
"Come, doctor, that couldn"t make her SING."
"Why not? Heart can speak to heart, even by a flower or a picture. The separation was complete; sending this symbol has broken it a little, and so she is singing. This is a lesson for us ruder and less subtle spirits. Now mind, thwarted love seldom kills a busy man; but it often kills an idle woman, and your daughter is an idle woman. He is an iron pot, she is a china vase. Please don"t hit them too hard with the hammer of paternal wisdom, or you will dent my iron pot, and break your china vase to atoms."
Having administered this warning, Dr. Amboyne went straight from Woodbine Villa to Little"s factory; but Little was still in London; he had gone there to take out patents. Bayne promised to send the doctor a line immediately on his return. Nevertheless, a fortnight elapsed, and then Dr. Amboyne received a short, mysterious line to tell him Mr.
Little had come home, and would be all the better of a visit. On receipt of this the doctor went at once to the works, and found young Little lying on his carpenter"s bench in a sort of gloomy apathy. "Hallo!" said the doctor, in his cheerful way, "why what"s the matter now?"
"I"m fairly crushed," groaned the inventor.
"And what has crushed you?"
"The roundabout swindle."
"There, now, he invents words as well as things. Come, tell me all about the roundabout swindle."