"Oh!" said Charlotte, astonished. "But I didn't do anything.
"Nothing at all, except keep cool and hold steady. Those are the hardest things a surgeon can set a novice at, you know."
"But you needed me; and Mrs. Fields was out. You didn't know that, but I did. And I don't think I'm one of the fainting-away kind."
"No, you can stand fire. I think sometimes--do you know what I think?"
Charlotte waited, her cheeks warm in the darkness. Praise is always sweet when one has earned it.
"I believe you would stand by a friend--to the last ditch."
Charlotte was silent for a minute; then she answered, low and honestly, "If he were a friend at all worth having I should try."
"And expect the same loyalty in return?"
"Indeed I should."
"I should like," said Doctor Churchill's steady voice, "to try a friendship like that--an acknowledged one. I always was a fellow who liked things definite. I don't like to say to myself, 'I think that man is my friend--I'm sure he is--he shows it.' No, I want him to say so--to shake hands on it. I had such a friend once--the only one. When he died I felt I had lost--I can't tell you what, Miss Charlotte. I never had another."