Christian fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
And returning to the charge, Doctor Remy did not remit his efforts
until he had gotten the half-vexed young man upon his feet, and forced
him to pace two or three times up and down the office. Thereupon
Bergan was fain to avow that his limbs were stiff and sore, and he had
no mind for further exercise.
"Just as I expected," said the doctor, calmly.
Without further words, he marched Bergan off to bed, and did not let
him alone, until, by dint of various outward and inward applications,
he had restored natural warmth and circulation to his chilled, benumbed
frame. In doing this, the young man was effectually roused; and memory
and thought came back with consciousness.
"Doctor," said he, suddenly, "I almost envy you your profession."
"Why?"
"Because, as you told me at our first meeting, your duty is always
plainly one thing--to save life."
"Humph! it seems to me that yours is equally plain--to save your
client."
"What! whether his cause be right or wrong?"
"_I_ save life, whether it be good or evil--a thief's or a saint's."
Bergan was silent for a moment. He felt the sophistry, but could not,
on the instant, detect wherein it lay. He allowed himself to be
diverted from the main question by a side issue.
"You say that you save life," said he, "but do you feel that it is
really you? Are you never conscious of a power above you, without
whose help your efforts would avail nothing?"
"Granted, for the sake of argument," replied Doctor Remy, composedly.
"Then you may believe that it is not your efforts which gain a cause,
but the 'power above,' of which you speak."
It is not often that a side issue leads so directly back to the main
point as in this instance, thanks to Doctor Remy's mode of treating it.
"I see," said Bergan, musingly, "the difference is in the intent. Of
course, God does decide the event, or consequence,--_that_ is beyond
us. He can frustrate our best efforts, or crown them with success, as
He pleases. Our business, then, is with motives--and aims--and means."
(The last clauses came slowly, and in the natural, if not the logical,
order of thought.) "It is only after we have made sure that those
three are right," he went on, "that we are freed from responsibility,
and can comfortably leave results to God."
"All very fine," returned Doctor Remy, coolly. "But it seems to me
that our motives, means, and aims (that is to say, yours and mine) are
the same. Motive, love of life; means, a profession; aim,
money,--which though in itself only a means, is the most convenient
representative of all that it will buy; that is, all that supports
life, and enhances its enjoyments."
"I hope you are not serious," replied Bergan, gravely. "I should be
sorry to think that any man--much less a man with your talent, culture,
and opportunities for benefiting his fellows--could be satisfied with
so poor an ambition as that."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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