"You lack the courage."
She was silent.
"Braver things have been done by those of your profession who have gone among lepers," said the old gentleman sadly.
She flushed up instantly; her eyes sparkled; her head proudly high, delicate nostrils dilated.
"I am not afraid!" she said. "If it ever becomes necessary, I _can_ show courage and devotion, as well as those of my profession who minister to the lepers of Molokai! Yes; I do promise you to marry him if I cannot otherwise study him. And I promise you solemnly to devote my entire life to observing his symptoms and searching for proper means to combat them.
My one ambition in life is personally to observe and study a case of Lamour"s Disease, and to give my entire life to investigating its origin, its course, and its cure."
The old gentleman rose, bowing with that quaintly obsolete courtesy which was in vogue in his youth.
"I am contented to leave him exclusively to you, Dr. Hollis. And I wish you happiness in your life"s work--and success in your cure of this unhappy young man."
Hat in hand, he bowed again as he tottered past her, muttering and smiling to himself and shaking his trembling head as he went rocking on unsteady legs out into the sunshine, where the nursemaids and children flocked along the lake sh.o.r.e throwing peanuts to the waterfowl and satiated goldfish.
Dr. Hollis looked after him, her small hand buried among the pages of her open book. Carden viewed his disappearing figure with guileless emotions. He was vaguely aware that something important was about to happen to him. And it did before he was prepared.
CHAPTER XXIII
When Rosalind Hollis found herself on her feet again a slight sensation of fright checked her for a moment. Then, resolutely suppressing such unworthy weakness, the lofty inspiration of her mission in life dominated her, and she stepped forward undaunted. And Carden, seeing her advance toward him, arose in astonishment to meet her.
For a second they stood facing each other, he astounded, she a trifle pale but firm. Then in a low voice she asked his pardon for disturbing him.
"I am Rosalind Hollis, a physician," she said quietly, "and physicians are sometimes obliged to do difficult things in the interest of their profession. It is dreadfully difficult for me to speak to you in this way. But"--she looked fearlessly at him--"I am confident you will not misinterpret what I have done."
He managed to a.s.sure her that he did not misinterpret it.
She regarded him steadily; she examined the dark circles under his eyes; she coolly observed his rising color under her calm inspection; she saw him fidgeting with his walking stick. She _must_ try his pulse!
"Would you mind if I asked you a few questions in the interest of science?" she said earnestly.
"As a m-m-matter of fact," he stammered, "I don"t know much about science. Awfully glad to do anything I can, you know."
"Oh, I don"t mean it that way," she rea.s.sured him. A hint of a smile tinted her eyes with brilliant amethyst. "Would you mind if I sat here for a few moments? _Could_ you overlook this horrid unconventionality long enough for me to explain why I have spoken to you?"
"I could indeed!" he said, so anxiously cordial that her lovely face grew serious and she hesitated. But he was standing aside, hat off, placing the bench at her disposal, and she seated herself, placing her book on the bench beside her.
"Would you mind sitting here for a few moments?" she asked him gravely.
Dazed, scarcely crediting the evidence of his senses, he took possession of the end of the bench with the silent obedience of a schoolboy. His att.i.tude was irreproachable. She was grateful for this, and her satisfaction with herself for not having misjudged him renewed her confidence in him, in herself, and in the difficult situation.
She began, quietly, by again telling him her name and profession; where she lived, and that she was studying to be a specialist, though she did not intimate what that specialty was to be.
Outwardly composed and attentively deferential, his astonishment at times dominated a stronger sentiment that seemed to grow and expand with her every word, seizing him in a fierce possession absolutely and hopelessly complete.
The bewildering fascination of her mastered him. No cool a.n.a.lysis of what his senses were confirming could be necessary to convince him of his condition. Every word of hers, every gesture, every inflection of her sweet, clear voice, every lifting of her head, her eyes, her perfectly gloved hands, only repeated to him what he knew was a certainty. Never had he looked upon such physical loveliness; never had he dreamed of such a voice.
She had asked him a question, and, absorbed in the pure delight of looking at her, he had not comprehended or answered. She flushed sensitively, accepting his silence as refusal, and he came out of his trance hastily.
"I beg your pardon; I did not quite understand your question, Miss Hollis--I mean, Dr. Hollis."
"I asked you if you minded my noting your pulse," she said.
He stretched out his right hand; she stripped off her glove, laid the tip of her middle finger on his wrist, and glanced down at the gold watch which she held.
"I am wondering," he said, laughing uncertainly, "whether you believe me to be ill. Of course it is easy to see that you have found something unusual about me--something of particular interest to a physician. Is there anything very dreadful going to happen to me, Dr. Hollis? I feel perfectly well."
"Are you sure you feel well?" she asked, so earnestly that the smile on his lips faded out.
"Absolutely. Is my pulse queer?"
"It is not normal."
He could easily account for that, but he said nothing.
She questioned him for a few minutes, noted his pulse again, looked closely at the bluish circles under his eyes. Naturally he flushed up and grew restless under the calm, grave, beautiful eyes.
"I--I have an absolutely new and carefully sterilized thermometer--" She drew it from a tiny gold-initialed pocket case, and looked wistfully at him.
"You want to put that into my mouth?" he asked, astonished.
"If you don"t mind."
She held it up, shook it once or twice, and deliberately inserted it between his lips. And there he sat, round-eyed, silent, the end of the thermometer protruding at a rakish angle from the corner of his mouth.
And he grew redder and redder.
"I _don"t_ wish to alarm you," she was saying, "but all this is so deeply significant, so full of vital interest to me--to the world, to science--"
"_What_ have I got, in Heaven"s name?" he said thickly, the thermometer wiggling in his mouth.
"Ah!" she exclaimed with soft enthusiasm, clasping her pretty ungloved hands, "I cannot be sure yet--I dare not be too sanguine--"
"Do you mean that you _want_ me to have something queer?" he blurted out, while the thermometer wiggled with every word he uttered.
"N-no, of course, I don"t _want_ you to be ill," she said hastily.
"Only, if you _are_ ill it will be a wonderful thing for me. I mean--a--that I am intensely interested in certain symptoms which--"
She gently withdrew the gla.s.s tube from his lips and examined it carefully.
"_Is_ there anything the matter?" he insisted, looking at the instrument over her shoulder.
She did not reply; pure excitement rendered her speechless.
"I seem to _feel_ all right," he added uneasily. "If you really believe that there"s anything wrong with me, I"ll stop in to see my doctor."