“Go,” he said to Carmen. “The Lord is with thee! Go in this thy might!”
A few minutes later the great bronze doors of the Ames mansion swung wide to admit the daughter of the house.
Doctor Morton met the wondering girl, and led her directly into the sick-room. The other physicians had departed.
“Miss Carmen,” he said gravely, “Mr. Ames is past earthly help. He can not live.”
The girl turned upon him like a flash from a clear sky. “You mean, he shall not live!” she cried. “For you doctors have sentenced him!”
The startled man bowed before the rebuke. Then a sense of her magnificent environment, of her strange position, and of the vivid events of the past few hours swept over her, and she became embarrassed. The nurses and attendants, too, who stood about and stared so hard at her, added to her confusion.
But the doctor took her hand. “Listen,” he said, “I am leaving now, but you will remain. If I am needed, one of the maids will summon me.”
Carmen stood for a moment without speaking. Then she walked slowly to the bed and looked down at the man. Doctor Morton motioned to the attendants to withdraw. Then he himself stepped softly out and closed the door. When the girl turned around, she was alone––with death.