“I wish we had a proper surgeon here!” said Dick, rising and walking restlessly up and down. “We have,” cried Fitz, bristling up at once in defence of Georgia. “I meant a medical _man_,” said Dick, casting a stony glance at him. “It seems to me, North,” put in Stratford, “that you forget we ought to be very thankful to have a doctor here at all. You can’t mean to imply that it makes any difference that--that----” “That I have the misfortune to be a woman, as Major North thinks,” said Georgia, quietly. “Well, I know that I would never let a lady doctor touch me if I was ill,” said Dick, with painful candour. “I don’t think there are many that would care to,” snapped Fitz, who was boiling over with rage. “Anstruther, you forget yourself,” said Stratford. “Miss Keeling, I must ask you to forgive us. We have been so much upset by what has happened that we really can’t look at things coolly. We know that North has always been an obstinate heretic on this subject, but I’m sure I need not tell you that if he was really ill he would be only too grateful if you would do what you could for him. Still, in the present case----” “Yes?” said Georgia, eagerly, as he paused. “It is such a fearful risk. If you could say definitely what poison you suspected, or even if we had any independent proof that poison had been administered at all, I would add my voice to yours in trying to persuade Lady Haigh to adopt your views; but as it is, you must confess that they are built up of a succession of hypotheses, and if the hypotheses are false, your treatment might do irremediable harm by weakening the patient to such an extent that he would have no power to rally from what may, after all, be what you called just now a simple paralytic seizure. You are quite convinced of the truth of your theory, I suppose?” “I would stake my professional reputation upon it,” said Georgia; “but I suppose”--throwing back her head proudly--“that it would be quite useless to try to convince any one here that my reputation is as much to me as a professional _man’s_ is to him. But it is not that--it is to see poor Sir Dugald lying there insensible, and Lady Haigh so miserable about him, and not to be allowed to try what I believe would set him right. After all”--her tone changed--“I am the doctor here, and I am not answerable to any one in authority. Why should I not try the remedies which commend themselves to me?” “Scarcely without the consent of the patient’s friends----” began Stratford, puzzled by this new development; but Dick interposed roughly enough. “No, Miss Keeling. If your hypothesis proved to be incorrect, and the result turned out badly, it might become a manslaughter case. It is quite out of the question that you should be allowed either to run such a risk yourself, or to expose the Chief to it, and I shall back Stratford up in preventing you from attempting anything of the kind you propose.”