"I will go—yes, certainly I will go," Fergusson exclaimed, after a moment's pause; "if it is really a matter of life and death, I have no choice but to go."
"And—you will promise?"
He looked into her face with a curiously grave and questioning glance.
"You know of no reason why I should refuse to take such an unprecedented oath?" he asked.
"I know nothing!" she answered emphatically. "I know of no reason, either for or against your doing it. Only—when I think of her beautiful face, and of her eyes that seemed to hold all the sorrow in the world, I feel as if you could only do what she asked you."
"And if I refuse to swear?"
"Then I shall refuse to tell you where the lady lives," she answered with spirit, "and I shall go and find another doctor. But—oh! please do what she asks."
A smile broke over Fergusson's grave face.
"I don't half like the business," he said; "I am not fond of swearing in the dark, so to speak, and what guarantee have I that I am not going to mix myself up in some discreditable affair?"
"The lady I saw could not do anything discreditable," Christina exclaimed warmly; "it is unthinkable."