“It usually starts in the form of a strep throat. You remember you told me Jack had not one but two sore throats with his cold? Probably he caught the infection while his resistance was low from his cold. Then, after a while, the throat heals and the patient is presumably well. Only he doesn’t really feel good. He hasn’t much appetite. He’s listless. He aches in the joints. He isn’t exactly sick, but he isn’t well, either. Lots of people ignore these symptoms. So the strep then attacks the heart. If the patient is lucky, after that, he manages to fight off the infection, or arrest it, and survives with a badly damaged heart.”
Mrs. Craig covered her mouth with her hand. “And if the patient isn’t lucky?” she asked.
Ted shook his head. “Let’s not talk about it any more,” he said.
“You mean, he dies?”
Ted nodded. “But you must remember this. Jack doesn’t fit either case. Thanks to you, we’ve caught the villain. Jack’s going to have help in his fight.”
Dr. Jenkins came down into the lobby and nodded to them. “I think we’ve found the root of the trouble,” he said calmly.
Mrs. Craig shook her head as if to fight off a bad dream. “Dr. Jenkins,” she said slowly, “your specialty is heart trouble, isn’t it?”
Dr. Jenkins smiled. “Of course I’m just past my internship, Mrs. Craig. Someday I hope to be a heart specialist, though. But for right now, I’d like to call in a specialist from Boston. We want to be very sure to do exactly the right things.”
Ted looked at the other doctor. “I was right, Fred?” he asked.
Dr. Jenkins nodded. “And if Mrs. Craig wants to see Jack now....”