Jenkinson heard him to the end without
interrupting, but he was plainly puzzled and annoyed.
"And you say she looked very ill?" he asked.
"Oh, very ill, sir; alarmingly ill, to my unpracticed eyes. She seemed
thin and worn--she could scarcely talk--she had such a cough--I hardly
knew her."
Again the doctor paused to consider. He was a very famous doctor, with
many very famous patients, and I could see that this case piqued
him--that another physician should have been preferred!
"Of course, Mr. Royce," he said finally, "Miss Holladay was perfectly
free to choose another physician, if she thought best."
"But would you have thought it probable?" queried our junior.
"Ten minutes ago, I should have thought it extremely improbable,"
answered the doctor emphatically. "Still, women are sometimes
erratic, as we doctors know to our sorrow."
Mr. Royce hesitated, and then took the bull by the horns.
"Doctor Jenkinson," he began earnestly, "don't you think it would be
wise to see Miss Holladay--you know how her father trusted you, and
relied on you--and assure yourself that she's in good hands? I
confess, I don't know what to think, but I fear some danger is hanging
over her. Perhaps she may even have fallen into the hands of the
faith-curists."
Jenkinson smiled.
"The advice to seek rest and quiet seems sane enough," he said, "and
utterly unlike any that a faith-curist would give.
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