Part 10 (1/2)
”Consider it finished, old man.”
”Then what does this, all this”--with a sweeping hand wave--”mean? You cannot seriously intend to stay here?”
”Why not?”
”Your question is absurd.”
”No, it isn't. Let it sink in. Why should I not stay here? Examine the facts. I am ordered change, rest, interest, good air--a year at least must elapse before I take up my life again. I must spend that year somewhere. Why not here? It is healthy, high, piney, quiet. I had become utterly tired of my tramping tour. All the good I can get from it I have got. Chance, or whatever you like to call it, leads me to this place. A place which needs a doctor and which this particular doctor needs. There is nothing absurd about it.”
The tall man observed his friend in interested silence. Apparently he required time to adjust his mind to the fact that Callandar was in earnest. The badinage he brushed aside.
”Then you really intend--but how about this office? If it is not a torn-fool office, where does the necessary rest come in?”
”Rest doesn't mean idleness. I should die of loafing. As a matter of fact since coming here I have rested as I have not rested for a year.
Look at me! Can't you see it? Or is the renovation not yet visible to the naked eye? Great Scott! I don't need to vegetate in order to rest, do I?”
”No.” Another pause ensued during which the gimlet eyes of the professor were busy. Then he seemed suddenly to leap to the heart of the matter.
”And--Lorna?” He asked crisply.
It was the other's turn to be silent. He flushed, looked embarra.s.sed, and drummed with his fingers upon the table.
”Of course I have no right to ask,” added Willits primly.
”Yes, you have, old man. Every right. But I knew you had come to ask that question and I didn't like it. The answer is not a flattering one--to me. Nor is it what you expected. To be brief, Lorna won't have me. Refused me--flat!”
Blank surprise portrayed itself upon the professor's face.
”The devil she did!”
”Confess now!” said Callandar, smiling. ”You thought I was the one to blame? There was retributive justice in your eye, don't deny it!”
”But, I don't understand! I thought--I was sure--”
”I know. But she doesn't! Not in that way. As a sister--”
”That's enough! I--Accept my apology. I feel very sorry, Henry.”
Again that look of embarra.s.sment and guilt upon the doctor's face.
”No. Don't feel sorry! See here, let's be frank about the whole thing.
It was a mistake, from the very beginning, a mistake. Miss Sinnet, Lorna, is a girl in a thousand. But--I did not care for her as a man should care for the woman he makes his wife. Nor did she care for me--wait, I'm not denying that there was a chance. We were very congenial. She might have cared if--if I had cared more greatly.”
”Henry Callandar! Are you a cad?”
”No. Merely a man speaking the exact truth. I thought I might risk it, with you. Lorna Sinnet is not a woman to give her love and take a half-love in return. She was more clear-sighted than you or I. We should both have been very miserable.”
Elliott Willits sighed. He was a very sensible man. He prided himself upon being devoid of sentiment, but even the most sensible of men, entirely devoid of sentiment, do not like to see their well laid plans go wrong.
”Well,” he said, ”I was mistaken. Let us say no more about it.”