“What is it he needs, Doctor?” she asked, in a low voice. “His mother’s always talking so wild I cannot make head nor tail of it. She says you want to put new blood in him.”
“That is it exactly,” said Dr. Agnew, his eyes twinkling. “A pint of blood such as your veins carry in such abundance might save Johnny’s life.”
“Do you mean that, Doctor?”
“Yes, Miss Hester.”
“Then he can have it,” returned the girl, quietly. “You can take it now, for all I care.”
The doctor jumped up and walked back and forth across the room. Then he saw Hester stripping up her sleeve.
“No, no,” he said. “It isn’t as easy as all that. And I’m not sure I’d be doing right to let you do it——”
“I guess you’re not my conscience, Dr. Agnew,” said Hester, in her usual brusque way.
“No; but I have a conscience of my own,” said the doctor, grimly. “This isn’t a thing to be done in a minute, or in a corner, young lady. It includes one of the very nicest of surgical operations. It will keep you out of school for some time. It will keep you at the hospital. It will, indeed, keep you in bed longer than you care to stay, perhaps.”
“Is it dangerous?”