THE
HOUSE OF DEFENCE
BY
E. F. BENSON
AUTHOR OF “DODO,” “THE CHALLONERS,” “THE IMAGE IN THE SAND,”
“THE ANGEL OF PAIN,” “PAUL,” ETC.
COPYRIGHT EDITION
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II
LEIPZIG
BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ
1907.
THE HOUSE OF DEFENCE.
CHAPTER I.
MAUD was lying in a long chair on the lawn after lunch the following afternoon, defending Christian Science from the gibes (which were keen) of the mockers, who were many. She had an ally, it is true, in the person of Alice Yardly, who, in her big hat and white dress, with a blue sash, looked like a doubtful Romney, and was smiling, literally with all her might. The more the mockers mocked, the kinder grew her smile, and the more voluble her explanations. Maud, for her part, would sooner have done battle alone, for all that Alice as an ally did was, with great precision and copious directions, to reveal to the enemy all the weak points in the fortifications (of which, it seemed to Maud, there were hundreds) and all the angles where an assault would probably meet with success. Wherever, so it seemed, there was any possible difficulty in “the scheme of things entire,” as understood by Christian scientists, there was poor dear Alice, waving a large and cheerful flag to call attention to it.
“No, I am not a Christian Scientist, Thurso,” Maud was saying, “because I think a lot of it is too silly—oh, well, never mind. But what I told you at lunch I actually saw with my own eyes. I will say it again. Nurse Miles, who is optimistic, told me that Sandie was dying, and though it was really no use, she wanted Dr. Symes to be sent for. Well, I didn’t send for him, but I went upstairs with Mr. Cochrane, and I saw Mr. Cochrane—by means of Christian Science, I must suppose—pull Sandie out of the jaws of death.”
“Be fair, Maud,” said Thurso. “Tell them what Dr. Symes said when he came next morning.”
“I was going to. He said he had known cases where the temperature went suddenly down from high fever to below normal, and it had not meant perforation. It meant simply what it was—the sudden cessation of fever. Of course, such a thing is very rare, and it would be an odd coincidence if——”