The doctor's heart labored like a drum. Perhaps she would tell it all
out to Rice Jones now.
The same acrid restraint may be heard in a mother's voice when she
inquires, as Rice did,--
"Who was talking with you?"
"Dr. Dunlap."
"Dr. Dunlap? You don't know Dr. Dunlap."
"We met in England," daringly broke out Dr. Dunlap himself.
"He is here yet, is he?" said Rice Jones. "Doctors are supposed to be
the natural protectors of ailing women; but here's one that is helping a
sick girl to take her death cold."
An attack on his professional side was what Dr. Dunlap was not prepared
for. He had nothing to say, and Maria's brother carried her out of the
old college and took the nearest way home.
Noise was ceasing around the sinking bonfire, a clatter of wooden shoes
setting homeward along the streets of Kaskaskia. Maria saw the stars
stretching their great network downward enmeshing the Mississippi. That
nightly vision is wonderful. But what are outward wonders compared to
the unseen spiritual chemistry always at work within and around us,
changing our loves and beliefs and needs?
Rice stopped to rest as soon as they were out of Dr.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57