第78章 AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION(2)

"I have been thinking,"the doctor said,"of the singular seizures to which you are liable,and as it is my business not merely to think about such cases,but to do what I can to help any who may be capable of receiving aid from my art,I wish to have some additional facts about your history.And in the first place,will you allow me to ask what led you to this particular place?It is so much less known to the public at large than many other resorts that we naturally ask,What brings this or that new visitor among us?We have no ill-tasting,natural spring of bad water to be analyzed by the state chemist and proclaimed as a specific.We have no great gambling-houses,no racecourse (except that fox boats on the lake);we have no coaching-club,no great balls,few lions of any kind,so we ask,What brings this or that stranger here?And I think I may venture to ask you whether any,special motive brought you among us,or whether it was accident that determined your coming to this place.""Certainly,doctor,"Maurice answered,"I will tell you with great pleasure.Last year I passed on the border of a great river.The year before I lived in a lonely cottage at the side of the ocean.Iwanted this year to be by a lake.You heard the paper read at the meeting of your society,or at least you heard of it,--for such matters are always talked over in a village like this.You can judge by that paper,or could,if it were before you,of the frame of mind in which I came here.I was tired of the sullen indifference of the ocean and the babbling egotism of the river,always hurrying along on its own private business.I wanted the dreamy stillness of a large,tranquil sheet of water that had nothing in particular to do,and would leave me to myself and my thoughts.I had read somewhere about the place,and the old Anchor Tavern,with its paternal landlord and motherly landlady and old-fashioned household,and that,though it was no longer open as a tavern,I could find a resting-place there early in the season,at least for a few days,while I looked about me for a quiet place in which I might pass my summer.I have found this a pleasant residence.By being up early and out late I have kept myself mainly in the solitude which has become my enforced habit of life.The season has gone by too swiftly for me since my dream has become a vision."The doctor was sitting with his hand round Maurice's wrist,three fingers on his pulse.As he spoke these last words he noticed that the pulse fluttered a little,--beat irregularly a few times;intermitted;became feeble and thready;while his cheek grew whiter than the pallid bloodlessness of his long illness had left it.

"No more talk,now,"he said."You are too tired to be using your voice.I will hear all the rest another time."The doctor had interrupted Maurice at an interesting point.What did he mean by saying that his dream had become a vision?This is what the doctor was naturally curious,and professionally anxious,to know.But his hand was still on his patient's pulse,which told him unmistakably that the heart had taken the alarm and was losing its energy under the depressing nervous influence.Presently,however,it recovered its natural force and rhythm,and a faint flush came back to the pale cheek.The doctor remembered the story of Galen,and the young maiden whose complaint had puzzled the physicians.

The next day his patient was well enough to enter once more into conversation.

"You said something about a dream of yours which had become a vision,"said the doctor,with his fingers on his patient's wrist,as before.He felt the artery leap,under his pressure,falter a little,stop,then begin again,growing fuller in its beat.The heart had felt the pull of the bridle,but the spur had roused it to swift reaction.

"You know the story of my past life,doctor,"Maurice answered;"and,I will tell you what is the vision which has taken the place of my dreams.You remember the boat-race?I watched it from a distance,but I held a powerful opera-glass in my hand,which brought the whole crew of the young ladies'boat so close to me that I could see the features,the figures,the movements,of every one of the rowers.Isaw the little coxswain fling her bouquet in the track of the other boat,--you remember how the race was lost and won,--but I saw one face among those young girls which drew me away from all the rest.

It was that of the young lady who pulled the bow oar,the captain of the boat's crew.I have since learned her name,you know it well,--Ineed not name her.Since that day I have had many distant glimpses of her;and once I met her so squarely that the deadly sensation came over me,and I felt that in another moment I should fall senseless at her feet.But she passed on her way and I on mine,and the spasm which had clutched my heart gradually left it,and I was as well as before.You know that young lady,doctor?""I do;and she is a very noble creature.You are not the first young man who has been fascinated,almost at a glance,by Miss Euthymia Tower.And she is well worth knowing more intimately."The doctor gave him a full account of the young lady,of her early days,her character,her accomplishments.To all this he listened devoutly,and when the doctor left him he said to himself,"I will see her and speak with her,if it costs me my life."XXIIEUTHYMIA.