As a hen is in trouble when her ducklings take to the water, so was Lillie's soul disturbed when her father was out on the flattering sea of Madame's conversation. Carter was amused at the wiles of the widow and the terrors of the daughter. He comprehended the affair as well as Lillie, at the same time that he did not see so very much harm in it, for the lady was pretty, clever, young enough, and had money. But nothing came of the flirtation--at least not for the present. Although the Doctor was an eminently sociable being and indefatigably courteous to all of Eve's daughters, he was not at bottom what you call a ladies' man. He was too much wrapped up in his daughter and in his scientific studies to be easily pervious to the shafts of Cupid; besides which he was pretty solidly cuirassed by fifty-five years of worldly experience. Madame even felt that she was kept at a distance, or, to use a more corporeal and specially correct expression, at arm's length, by his very politeness. "Doctor, have you not thought it odd sometimes that I never consult you professionally?" she asked one day, changing suddenly from _femme raisonnable_ to Lady Gay Spanker. "Really, it never occurred to me. I don't expect to prescribe for my own family. It would be unfair to my brother doctors. I believe, too, that you are never sick." "Thanks to Heaven, never! But that is not the only cause. The truth is--perhaps you have not noticed the fact--but you are not married. If you want me for a patient, there must first be a Mrs. Ravenel." "Ah! Yes. Somebody to whom I could confide what is the matter with you." "That would not matter. We women always tell our own maladies. No; that would not matter; it is merely the look of the thing that troubles me." The Doctor had the air of being cornered, and remained smiling at Mrs. Larue, awaiting her pleasure. "I do not propose to consult you," she continued. "I am so constantly well that I am almost unhappy about it. But I do think seriously of studying medicine. What is your opinion of female doctors?" "A capital idea!" exclaimed Ravenel, jumping at the change of subject. "Why not follow it up? You could master the science of medicine in two or three years, and you have ability enough to practice it to great advantage. You might be extremely useful by making a specialty of your own sex." "You are a professor of theory and practice, Doctor. Will you instruct me?" "Oh! as to that--Elderkin would be better. He is precisely in what ought to be your line. I think that out of kindness to you I ought to say No." "Not even if I would promise to study mineralogy also?" Ravenel pondered an instant, and then eluded her with a story.