CHAPTER XXIII.
"Uncle Lawrence, with your permission, I am going to study to be a nurse."
Judge Hildreth started. So light had been the footsteps and so deeply had he been absorbed in thought, he had not heard his niece enter the library and cross the room until she stood before his desk. Very fair was the picture which his eyes rested upon. What made his brows contract as if something hurt him in the sight?
Evadne Hildreth was in all the sweetness of her young womanhood. She was not beautiful, not even pretty, Isabelle said, but there was a strange fascination about her earnest face, and the wonderful grey eyes possessed a charm that was all their own. She had graduated with honors. Now she stood upon the threshold of the unknown, holding her life in her hands.
Louis was traveling in Europe. Isabelle and Marion were at a fashionable
French Conservatory, for the perfecting of their Parisian accent.
Evadne was alone. She had chosen to have it so. She wanted to follow up
a special course in physiology which was her favorite study.
"A nurse, Evadne! My dear, you are beside yourself. 'Much learning hath made you mad.'"
"'I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and soberness.' I feel called to do this thing."
"Who has called you, pray? We do not deal in supernaturalisms in this prosaic century."
The lovely eyes glowed. "Jesus Christ." What an exultant ring there was in her voice, and how tenderly she lingered over the name!
"Jesus Christ!" Judge Hildreth repeated the words in an awestruck tone. Did she see him cower in his chair? It must have been an optical illusion. The storm outside was making the house shiver and the lights dance.