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Page 37
"I think you told me," he began, "that Miss Burnham has neither
father nor mother living?"
"Yes. Miss Burnham is an orphan."
"Has she any near relatives?"
"No. You may speak to me as her guardian and her friend. Are you
alarmed about her?"
"I am seriously alarmed. It is only two days since I called here
last, and I see a marked change in her for the worse--physically
and morally, a change for the worse. Don't needlessly alarm
yourself! The case is not, I trust, entirely beyond the reach of
remedy. The great hope for us is the hope that Mr. Aldersley may
still be living. In that event, I should feel no misgivings about
the future. Her marriage would make a healthy and a happy woman
of her. But as things are, I own I dread that settled conviction
in her mind that Mr. Aldersley is dead, and that her own death is
soon to follow. In her present state of health this idea
(haunting her as it certainly will night and day) will have its
influence on her body as well as on her mind. Unless we can check
the mischief, her last reserves of strength will give way. If you
wish for other advice, by all means send for it. You have my
opinion."
"I am quite satisfied with your opinion," Mrs. Crayford replied.
"For God's sake, tell me, what can we do?"
"We can try a complete change," said the doctor. "We can remove
her at once from this place."
"She will refuse to leave it," Mrs. Crayford rejoined. "I have
more than once proposed a change to her--and she always says No."
The doctor paused for a moment, like a man collecting his
thoughts.
"I heard something on my way here," he proceeded, "which suggests
to my mind a method of meeting the difficulty that you have just
mentioned. Unless I am entirely mistaken, Miss Burnham will not
say No to the change that I have in view for her."
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Crayford, eagerly.
"Pardon me if I ask you a question, on my part, before I reply,"
said the doctor. "Are you fortunate enough to possess any
interest at the Admiralty?"
"Certainly. My father is in the Secretary's office; and two of
the Lords of the Admiralty are friends of his."
"Excellent! Now I can speak out plainly with little fear of
disappointing you. After what I have said, you will agree with
me, that the only change in Miss Burnham's life which will be of
any use to her is a change that will alter the present tone of
her mind on the subject of Mr. Aldersley. Place her in a position
to discover--not by reference to her own distempered fancies and
visions, but by reference to actual evidence and actual
fact--whether Mr. Aldersley is, or is not, a living man; and
there will be an end of the hysterical delusions which now
threaten to fatally undermine her health. Even taking matters at
their worst--even assuming that Mr. Aldersley has died in the
Arctic seas--it will be less injurious to her to discover this
positively, than to leave her mind to feed on its own morbid
superstitions and speculations, for weeks and weeks together,
while the next news from the Expedition is on its way to England.
In one word, I want you to be in a position, before the week is
out, to put Miss Burnham's present conviction to a practical
test. Suppose you could say to her, 'We differ, my dear, about
Mr. Francis Aldersley. You declare, without the shadow of a
reason for it, that he is certainly dead, and, worse still, that
he has died by the act of one of his brother officers. I assert,
on the authority of the newspaper, that nothing of the sort has
happened, and that the chances are all in favor of his being
still a living man. What do you say to crossing the Atlantic, and
deciding which of us is right--you or I?' Do you think Miss
Burnham will say No to that, Mrs. Crayford? If I know anything of
human nature, she will seize the opportunity as a means of
converting you to a belief in the Second Sight."
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