"No; but he soon will be unless reason and affection control your actions and words. Your family physician is here, Mrs. Merwyn, and I trust you will be guided by his counsel."
"Send him to me," gasped the mother.
Dr. Henderson soon came and explained in part what had occurred.
"Oh, those Vosburghs!" exclaimed Mrs. Merwyn, with a gesture of unspeakable revolt at the state of affairs. "Well," she added, with a stern face, "it is my place and not a stranger's to be at my son's side."
"Pardon me, madam; you cannot go to your son at all in your present mood. In an emergency like this a physician is autocrat, and your son's life hangs by a hair."
"Who has a better right—who can do more for a child than a mother?"
"That should be true, but—" and he hesitated in embarrassment, for a moment, then concluded, firmly: "Your son is not expecting you, and agitation now might be fatal to him. There are other reasons which you will soon understand."
"There is one thing I already understand,—a nameless stranger is with him, and I am kept away."
"Miss Vosburgh is not a nameless stranger," said Strahan; "and she is affianced to your son."
"O Heaven! I shall go mad!" the lady groaned, a tempest of conflicting emotions sweeping through her heart.