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Page 25
He kissed her, tenderly, and understanding what he did. In his heart he
adored her for the sweetness and sense which had kept her from taking
these days of trial as a personal affront and finding offence in them.
They went out to dinner, and Burns found himself somehow able to forget
sufficiently to enjoy the appetizing dishes which were served to him, and
to keep his brow clear and his mind upon the table talk. When he went
away, afterward, back to the scene of his irritation and anxiety, he bore
with him a peculiar sense of having his good genius with him, to help him
tend those devastating fires of temperament which when they burned too
fiercely could only hinder him in the fight he waged.
It was almost daybreak when he returned. Ellen was not asleep, although
she did not expect him to come upstairs, if only for fear of disturbing
her at that hour. But presently the cautious opening of her door caused
her to raise her head and lift her arms. Her husband came to her, and sat
down close beside her.
"I've discharged myself from the case," he said. He spoke quietly, but
his voice vibrated with feeling. "It was the only thing to do. No man
could keep on with a case where the family were secretly following the
consultant's directions, instead of those of the physician in charge.
But,--for your sake, little wife, I've done something I never would have
believed I'd do."
She sat up, her eyes fixed on the dim outlines of his face. "Tell me!"
she urged.
"To begin with, I had it out with them, and let them know I understood
the situation perfectly--and had understood it all along. That I couldn't
stay with people who had lost faith in me. That if I were out of it they
could have the full benefit of Van Horn's orders, and the nurses would be
relieved of a mighty difficult situation. I suppose you don't know--few
people do--that it's a bad breach of professional ethics for a consultant
to conduct himself so that he throws doubt on the ability of the man in
charge? In this case it was a piece of outrageous--" He caught himself
up. "I can't get going on that, or--those fires won't stay banked!"
She had his hand in both hers, and she lifted it to her lips. He drew a
smothered breath or two, and went on.
"They were glad enough to see me out of it. Van Horn was--also glad!
You see,--within the last few hours the patient had lost ground--Van's
prognosis was being verified. But, when it came to taking leave of the
patient, there was the dickens to pay. His pulse jumped and his
temperature went up, and there was trouble for fair. He begged me not to
leave him. From the start his faith has been pinned tight to me. The
family hadn't reckoned with that. They found themselves obliged to reckon
with it. They saw I must be kept, or the game would be up in short
order."
"Oh, then you _had_ to stay!"
"Yes, I had to stay--but--I couldn't! Van Horn was in charge, and the
family wanted him in charge."
"But the patient would die if you didn't stay. You couldn't let
professional etiquette--"
"Couldn't you, though? You've got to observe the rules of the game,
Ellen, or you'll be in a worse mess than if you disregard them. After I
had resigned the case, unless Van Horn took himself out of it I could
have no recognized place in the house. He could have invited me, in the
emergency, to share responsibility equally with himself--but would he do
that? Never! There was just one thing I could do,--let the patient think
I was still in charge, and continue to see him, while Van Horn ran things
and so satisfied the family."
"Oh, Red, they couldn't ask you to do that?"
"That was what they did ask. I saw 'red' then, for a minute, I can tell
you. You can't understand just what a humiliation that would be,--it's
more than you could expect of any man--"
"But with the patient needing you--"
"I know,--but it's an anomalous position, just the same--an unbearable
one. Not one man in a thousand would consider it for an instant. But it's
the one I've accepted--for you!"
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