“Ay! let the young man choose life or death for himself.”
Gerard then indirectly rebuked his noisy counsellors by contrast and example. He spoke with unparalleled calmness, sweetness, and gentleness. And these were the words of Gerard the son of Eli. “I doubt not you both mean me well; but you assassinate me between you. Calmness and quiet are everything to me; but you are like two dogs growling over a bone. And in sooth, bone I should be, did this uproar last long.”
There was a dead silence, broken only by the silvery voice of Gerard, as he lay tranquil, and gazed calmly at the ceiling, and trickled into words.
“First, venerable sir, I thank you for coming to see me, whether from humanity, or in the way of honest gain; all trades must live.
“Your learning, reverend sir, seems great, to me at least, and for your experience, your age voucheth it.
“You say you have bled many, and of these many, many have not died thereafter, but lived, and done well. I must needs believe you.”
The physician bowed; Denys grunted.
“Others, you say, you have bled, and-they are dead. I must needs believe you.
“Denys knows few things compared with you, but he knows them well. He is a man not given to conjecture. This I myself have noted. He says he has seen the fevered and blooded for the most part die; the fevered and not blooded live. I must needs believe him.
“Here, then, all is doubt.