Yes, it was Guy; there could be no mistake, and in an instant her
resolution was taken. Calling her maid, she sent for her shawl and hat,
and then, bidding her follow, walked away in the moonlight. The previous
summer when at Saratoga, she had received medical treatment from Dr.
Schwartz, whom she knew well, and to whose office she directed her
steps. He seemed surprised to see her at that hour, but greeted her
cordially, asked when she came to town and what he could do for her.
"Tell me if this is still a safeguard," she said, baring her beautiful
white arm, and showing a large round scar. "Will this insure me against
disease?"
The doctor’s face flushed, and he looked uneasily at her as he took her
arm in his hand and examining the scar closely, said:
"The points are still distinct. I should say the vaccination was
thorough."
"But another will be safer. Have you fresh matter?" Daisy asked, and he
replied:
"Yes, some just from a young, healthy cow. I never use the adulterated
stuff which has been humanized. How do I know what humors may be lurking
in the blood? Why, some of the fairest, sweetest babies are full of
scrofula."
He was going on further with his discussion, when Daisy, who knew his
peculiarities, interrupted him.
"Never mind the lecture now. Vaccinate me quick, and let me go."
It was soon done; the doctor saying, as he put away his vial:
"You were safe without it, I think, and with it you may have no fears
whatever."
He looked at her curiously again as if asking what she knew or feared,
and observing the look, Daisy said to him:
"Do you attend the lady at the hotel?"
He bowed affirmatively and glanced uneasily at Sarah, who was looking on
in surprise.
"Is she very sick?" was the next inquiry.
"Yes, very sick."
"And does no one care for her but her husband?"
"No one."
"Has she suffered for care,—a woman’s care, I mean?"
"Well, not exactly; and yet she might be more comfortable with a woman
about her. Women are naturally better nurses than men, and Mr. Thornton
is quite worn out, but it does not make much difference now; the lady——"
Daisy did not hear the last part of the sentence, and bidding him
good-night, she went back to the hotel as swiftly as she had left it,
while the doctor stood watching the flutter of her white dress,
wondering how she found it out, and if she would "tell and raise _Cain_
generally."
"Of course not. I know her better than that," he said, to himself. "Poor
woman" (referring then to Julia). "Nothing, I fear, can help her now."
Meanwhile, Daisy had reached the hotel, and without going to her own
room, bade Sarah tell her the way to No. —.
"What! Oh, Miss McDonald! You surely are not——" Sarah gasped, clutching
at the dress, which her mistress took from her grasp, saying:
"Yes, I am going to see that lady. I know her, or of her, and I’m not
afraid. Must we let her die alone?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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