"Oh, don't ask him to do that! Betray his own mother," she exclaimed. "It seems so—so—unnatural!"
Tod laughed. Looking at the girl fondly, he said:
"Paula, for your sake I'd—I'd commit every crime on the calendar! Anything short of murder goes with me. Desperate diseases require desperate remedies. My stepfather and Bascom Cooley are the most desperate diseases I've ever encountered." Looking out of the window, he continued, with pretended enthusiasm: "Gee! but this is a lovely spot! Look at that sunlight shimmering on the water! This air is like the cocktail that exuberates but does not intoxicate! I'll be writing poetry if I stay here long."
The door leading to the wards suddenly opened and Mrs. Johnson appeared. Advancing toward Paula, she said:
"Dr. Zacharie thinks it advisable for you to rest before the others see you. Come, Miss Marsh."
She took her patient by the arm, but Paula, made bolder by the presence of friends, shook her off:
"I don't wish to go," she avowed decisively.
"Does Dr. Zacharie know we're here?" demanded Tod, turning to the lawyer.
"Yes," rejoined the other.
"You had better come, miss," said the attendant firmly.