"Yes."
"And friendless?"
"With the exception of ourselves and two good maiden ladies who have known her only for a day, she has no friends."
"Nor family--parents, I mean, brothers and sisters?"
"She has none."
"Your frank answers make my task easier, but at the same time do not remove my doubts. I am taking the liberty of an old man, for I am old enough to be your grandfather. The young lady interests me greatly, and all that I know of her I have learned from the good people who, perfect strangers to her, have taken her to their bosoms with as much sincerity and almost as much affection as if she were a child of their own."
"God bless them for it!"
"They have told me all they know. It is very little. Shortly after being taken into their hospitable house, you and your brother present yourselves. You are not related to her in any way--interrupt me if I am wrong--and you at once place yourself on terms of loving intimacy with her. You walk with her, hand in hand, you conduct yourself as a lover toward her. Your behavior places her in an equivocal position--I have no hesitation in saying so much--and I, an old-fashioned gentleman, with old-fashioned notions of honor, regard your proceedings with disfavor. The restoration of her health is placed in my hands, and I, a physician of some experience, find in the patient herself obstacles which it is out of my power to surmount. You two gentlemen do not assist me in the least; you give no information concerning her which may assist me in the duty devolving upon me as a professional man. For there is here some mental disturbance, the result of a severe shock, I judge to her heart and feelings, of which I am in complete ignorance, and which renders me practically powerless. Nevertheless, the interest she has created in me causes me to make a study of the case, and I have a vague notion that I could find a road to a cure if I were in possession of the particulars of her history. Control your excitement."
But Gerald was not to be restrained. He started to his feet, and bending toward the doctor, said, in his most earnest tone:
"Doctor, there is no fee you can name which I should deem too high if you can restore the mind of my dear girl."