Part 24 (1/2)
Certainly far, far less than had had Mr. E. C. Jefferson and that same Georgiana Warne.
He did not see her at once, for the father and mother of his patient met him in the middle of the floor, and his first glance fell upon them and remained there while he spoke to them of their daughter. Even in his manner of speaking Georgiana felt a decided difference. There was a curious crispness and succinctness of speech that marked the professional man, which was decidedly different from the more expanded conversational manner of Mr. Jefferson.
”Yes, she is sleeping quietly under the last effects of the anaesthetic,”
he was saying when Georgiana took note of his words once more. ”We will let her sleep. It will spare her some hours of consciousness.”
”Will she suffer very much when she wakes, Doctor?” was the mother's anxious question.
Doctor Craig's smile was the very one Georgiana had first liked about him, for it transformed his face and gave it back the youth which his early responsibility in a serious profession had done its best to age.
”We shall not let her suffer very much,” he promised. ”That's not necessary nor desirable.”
”When may we see her?” Mrs. Crofton pursued.
”You may all see her for a moment before she wakens, if you wish.
Afterward her mother and father for just a word, and--I am told she expressed a very strong wish to see a young man who was on his way. Has he come? For the sake of her contentment I have agreed to allow him a word with her by and by--just a word, if he will be very quiet.”
It was Uncle Thomas who turned to beckon James Stuart forward, and then to nod at Georgiana. Immediately Stuart was presented to Doctor Craig, who, looking intently into the young man's questioning face, said straightforwardly: ”Mr. Stuart and I have met before under quite different circ.u.mstances. He knew me as a writer of books and may be surprised to find me here--as I am surprised to find him.”
”Let me present you to my niece, Miss Warne, Doctor Craig,” said Aunt Olivia, and Georgiana was glad of the preparation the minutes had given her, for here indeed was need for all her powers of self-control. Her eyes had no sooner looked into those which met them with such a keen and searching glance than she was stirred to the depths. She had thought she had known what it would be to feel those eyes upon her again, but she had not reckoned with the effect of absence.
He made no effort to conceal the situation. ”When your daughter sees me next, Mrs. Crofton,” he said, without turning from Georgiana, ”she will know me, as Miss Warne and Mr. Stuart do. I spent last winter in Miss Warne's home, under the name of Jefferson alone, to find time to work at a book I am writing. I gave it up sooner than I had expected, because my work here would not be denied.”
”Didn't Jean know you when she saw you before the--the operation?” cried Rosalie, full of curiosity at this unexpected turn of affairs.
”She did not see me before she was anaesthetized,” explained Doctor Craig; and Doctor Westfall added, patting Rosalie's hand: ”It's rather like a story, isn't it, Rosy? Doctor Seaver, of the staff here, was telling me this morning how Doctor Craig tried to take a year off to rest and write, but how they got him back--and glad enough to have him, too. And yet we want that book. It's rather hard to have a reputation so big it won't give you time to rest. He needed the rest, Seaver told me.”
”I had it. Six months in the country did more for me than a year in town,” said Doctor Craig. He turned at the sound of a light knock upon the door. He gave the impression of a man whose senses were every one alert.
An apologetic interne came in with a message for Doctor Craig and he left them, with a final word of confidence and the request that they all retire to rooms at the nearby hotel where they were staying.
Georgiana found Rosalie at her side. ”O George! is he really the man you had in your house all this year? You lucky thing! Didn't you fall in love with him instantly? Why, he's perfectly wonderful!”
”You think so now, child, because you know he's distinguished. If you had seen him quietly working at his book you probably wouldn't have looked at him a second time.”
Rosalie studied her cousin's face so intently that Georgiana had some difficulty in maintaining this att.i.tude of cool detachment. The young girl shook her head. ”He couldn't have changed his face,” she insisted.
”He's not a bit handsome, but he's stunning just the same. Oh, how astonished Jean will be when she finds out who's saved her life! When do you suppose he'll let Jimmy Stuart see her? He'll die if he doesn't make sure she's alive pretty soon.”
CHAPTER XX
FIVE MINUTES
It was not many hours before Doctor Craig himself led Georgiana and James Stuart together into the room where Jeannette lay. She had asked to see them together, he said, and they might remain for precisely five minutes. He immediately left the room again and took the nurse with him.
The five minutes were spent by Stuart with Jeannette's hand in both his own, as he knelt beside the the bed where she lay, no pillow under her head, her face very white but her eyes glowing.
Jeannette's look met Georgiana's. ”Is it all right?” she said very low.
”Of course it's all right, dear; and I'm perfectly happy over it,”