Sir James laughed suddenly.
“Why that?” asked Maud.
“She came to me a few months ago for a tonic,” he said. “She had been suffering from general catarrh. She explained to me why this was not inconsistent, but I failed to follow her.”
Maud laughed too.
“Oh, Alice!” she said to herself.
“But Mr. Cochrane, you think, is not like her,” said Sir James.
“You can’t imagine a more totally different personality,” she said. “He gives confidence, anyhow, and he is not silly. I think there is a great deal of what is silly about the whole thing, but I believe that the direct power of God can come and heal people. That is about the biggest thing possible, isn’t it?”
Sir James nodded quietly.
“Yes, my dear young lady,” he said. “I believe in that possibility, too, and that is why I am consulting you. Oh, but compound fracture,” he said suddenly—“what ridiculous nonsense!”
He was silent for a moment after this irrepressible burst of professional indignation.