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Page 71
"You operated on him to-day? How glad I am!"
"No, I didn't operate. It took a better man than I. I've never done
this particular stunt, and Jamie was not a patient for experiment. Jack
Leaver did the trick, and a finished trick it was, too. I'm so full of
enthusiasm over his performance that I'm bursting with it, as I warned
you."
Charlotte Ruston had turned suddenly to face him. As he looked at her,
with this announcement, he had a view of lovely, startled eyes.
"What's the matter?" he asked, wondering. He had to look ahead at the
road, but he cut down on the Imp's speed, so that he could spare a glance
at his companion again. "You look as if I'd given you bad news instead of
good."
"Oh, no!--oh, no!" she said, in odd, short breaths. "It's
great--wonderful! Poor little fellow! I'm very glad. You said--Dr.
Leaver did it? I was simply--surprised."
"Did it brilliantly. But there's no occasion for surprise about that.
Having been in Baltimore as much as you have, you must know his position
there. There's nobody with a bigger reputation."
"But I thought he had been--ill?"
"Tired out. Small wonder, at the pace he was going--the working pace, I
mean. He never let up on himself. I got him here to rest up. He would
have been off long ago if I would have given him leave, but I had his
promise to keep away from work till he was thoroughly fit for it, so I've
made the most of my chance. I shall never get another. If I know him
he'll be back in his office before the week ends. Once give a chap like
him a taste of work after idleness, and there's no use trying to hold
him."
"You think him fully fit, now?"
"Never so fit in his life, if I'm any judge. I've seen him at work many
a time, and I never saw finer methods than his to-day, his own or any
man's--and I've watched some pretty smooth things. By the way, I
understand you had met Dr. Leaver before you met him here?"
"Yes, I had met him."
Burns was not possessed of more than the ordinary amount of curiosity
concerning other people's affairs, but he was accustomed to observe human
nature and note its signs, and it struck him now rather suddenly that
both John Leaver and Charlotte Ruston had seemed rather more than
necessarily non-committal concerning an acquaintance which both admitted.
He saw no reason why he should not ask a question or two. Asking
questions was a part of his profession.
"I hope you've managed to coax him before your camera. He's looking so
well now, I'd like a picture of him before he goes back and works himself
down again."
"You might suggest it to him," said Miss Ruston. She was looking straight
ahead. She wore a hat of white linen, of a picturesque shape, such as are
in vogue in the country in warm weather, and it drooped more or less
about her face. Burns could not see her eyes when she looked forward,
but he could see her mouth. It was an expressive mouth, and it looked
particularly expressive just now. The trouble was that he could not tell
just what it expressed.
"I'll do it, this afternoon, and keep it as a reminder of a patient of
whom I think a heap. No, I can't do it this afternoon, either, for he
won't leave Jamie till he can leave him comfortably over the first stage.
But by to-morrow afternoon, perhaps. We'll have to catch him on the fly,
for I'm confident he'll be off the minute the youngster is out of danger.
Well, I hope you know my friend well enough to appreciate that he's about
the finest there is anywhere?"
"I'm beginning to know _you_ well enough, Dr. Burns, to see that you care
more to have your friends appreciated than to win praise yourself."
"No, no--oh, Cesar, no! I've not reached such a sublime height of
altruism as that. To tell you the honest truth--which is supposed to be
good for the soul--I'm horribly envious of Jack Leaver for having done
that stunt this morning."
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