A great wave of pity and yearning tenderness swept through the Doctor’s heart as he sat twisted around in his chair, staring at that reflection in the mirror. He was uncertain what he ought to do. He longed to go to him with some word of comfort, but he shrank from the thought of saying anything which would seem an intrusion.
Finally he rose, and walking across the room, laid his hand on the bowed shoulder with a sympathetic pressure.
“Look here, my boy,” he said, in his deep, quiet voice. “I’m not asking you what the trouble is, but whatever it is you’ll let me help you, won’t you? You’ve given me the right to ask that by all you’ve done for me. Anything I could do would be only too little for one who has stood by me the way you have. I want you to feel that I’m your friend in the deepest meaning of that word. You can count on me for anything.” Then in a lighter tone as he gave the shoulder a half-playful slap he added, “I’m _for_ you, son.”
The younger man raised his head and straightened himself up in his chair.
“You wouldn’t be!” he exclaimed, “if you knew who I am.” Then he blurted out the confession: “I’m Dan Darcy. I can’t let you go on believing in me when you talk like that.”
“But I knew it when I said what I did,” interrupted Doctor Huntingdon. “It flashed over me first when I saw you looking at your father’s picture. No man could look at a stranger’s face that way. Then I knew what the resemblance was that has puzzled me ever since I met you. The only wonder to me is that I did not see it long ago.”
“You knew it,” repeated Dan slowly, “and yet you told me to count you as a friend in the deepest meaning of that word. How could you mean it?”
The Doctor’s answer came with deep impressiveness.
“Because, despite whatever slip you may have made as a boy of eighteen, you have grown into a man worthy of such a friendship. A surgeon in my position learns to read character, learns to know an honest man when he sees one. No matter what lies behind you that you regret, I have every confidence in you now, Dan. I am convinced you are worthy to be the son of even such a man as Daniel Darcy.”
He held out his hand to have it taken in a long, silent grip that made it ache.