"What?"
"The first mental—a sudden collapse of the will with which she's making this fight under a reaction to the memories of our system of educated ignorance, which we call girlish innocence. This may come at a moment when the consciousness of these 'ideals' may overwhelm her imagination and cause a collapse——"
"Yes, I understand," he replied thoughtfully. "I'll guard that."
"The other is the big physical enigma——"
"You mean?"
"The possible reopening of that curious abscess in her throat."
"But the specialist assured us it would never reappear——"
"Yes, and he knows just as much about it as you or I. It is one of the few cases of its kind so far recorded in the science of medicine. When the baby was born, the drawing of the mother's neck in pain pressed a bone of the spinal column into the flesh beside the jugular vein. Your specialist never dared to operate for a thorough removal of the trouble for fear he would sever the vein——"
"And if the old wound reopens it will reach the jugular vein?"
"Yes."