It was all George could do to control his voice. "You--you went to see him?" he stammered.
"Yes," said his mother. "You know him?"
"No, no," he answered. "Or--that is--I have met him, I think. Idon't know." And then to himself, "My God!"
There was a silence. "He is coming to talk to you," said the mother, at last.
George was hardly able to speak. "Then he is very much disturbed?""No, but he wants to talk to you."
"To me?"
"Yes. When the doctor saw the nurse, he said, 'Madame, it is impossible for me to continue to attend this child unless I have had this very day a conversation wit the father.' So I said 'Very well,' and he said he would come at once."George turned away, and put his hands to his forehead. "My poor little daughter!" he whispered to himself.
"Yes," said the mother, her voice breaking, "she is, indeed, a poor little daughter!"A silence fell; for what could words avail in such a situation?
Hearing the door open, Madame Dupont started, for her nerves were all a-quiver with the strain she had been under. A servant came in and spoke to her, and she said to George, "It is the doctor.
If you need me, I shall be in the next room."Her son stood trembling, as if he were waiting the approach of an executioner. The other came into the room without seeing him and he stood for a minute, clasping and unclasping his hands, almost overcome with emotion. Then he said, "Good-day, doctor." As the man stared at him, surprised and puzzled, he added, "You don't recognize me?"The doctor looked again, more closely. George was expecting him to break out in rage; but instead his voice fell low. "You!" he exclaimed. "It is you!"At last, in a voice of discouragement than of anger, he went on, "You got married, and you have a child! After all that I told you! You are a wretch!""Sir," cried George, "let me explain to you!""Not a word!" exclaimed the other. "There can be no explanation for what you have done."A silence followed. The young man did not know what to say.
Finally, stretching out his arms, he pleaded, "You will take care of my little daughter all the same, will you not?"The other turned away with disgust. "Imbecile!" he said.
George did not hear the word. "I was able to wait only six months," he murmured.
The doctor answered in a voice of cold self-repression, "That is enough, sir! All that does not concern me. I have done wrong even to let you see my indignation. I should have left you to judge yourself. I have nothing to do here but with the present and with the future--with the infant and with the nurse.""She isn't in danger?" cried George.
"The nurse is in danger of being contaminated."But George had not been thinking about the nurse. "I mean my child," he said.
"Just at present the symptoms are not disturbing."George waited; after a while he began, "You were saying about the nurse. Will you consent that I call my mother? She knows better than I.""As you wish," was the reply.
The young man started to the door, but came back, in terrible distress. "I have one prayer to offer you sir; arrange it so that my wife--so that no one will know. If my wife learned that it is I who am the cause--! It is for her that I implore you!
She--she isn't to blame."
Said the doctor: "I will do everything in my power that she may be kept ignorant of the true nature of the disease.""Oh, how I thank you!" murmured George. "How I thank you!""Do not thank me; it is for her, and not for you, that I will consent to lie.""And my mother?"
"Your mother knows the truth."
"But--"
"I pray you, sir--we have enough to talk about, and very serious matters."So George went to the door and called his mother. She entered and greeted the doctor, holding herself erect, and striving to keep the signs of grief and terror from her face. She signed to the doctor to take a seat, and then seated herself by a little table near him.
"Madame Dupont," he began, "I have prescribed a course of treatment for the child. I hope to be able to improve its condition, and to prevent any new developments. But my duty and yours does not stop there; if there is still time, it is necessary to protect the health of the nurse.""Tell us what it is necessary to do, Doctor?" said she.
"The woman must stop nursing the child."
"You mean we have to change the nurse?"
"Madame, the child can no longer be brought up at the breast, either by that nurse or by any other nurse.""But why, sir?"