“I think she’s getting over those horrible nightmares.”
“I’m glad of that,” said the doctor wearily. He himself was suffering from an attack of nerves. He was getting old, and the hives of human bees he cared for didn’t always contain honey. They stung him at his patients’ table, at births, at marriages; at deaths, less so—that was a release. He fought them with his Scotch tenacity, but they grew too much for him. Finally he got rid of them by retiring from active practice and putting the whole “bunch” without names or dates, into a book on psychical research, which became celebrated.
Julie devoted much time to her boy—took him in her car every morning to St. John’s College, called for him in the afternoon, preached religion to him at home, warned him of the great evils which arise from lack of it. She had been very negligent in her youth, and was punished for it. Religion was a great consolation.
He listened to her with deference. He was extraordinarily gifted and devoured everything he could lay his hands on in the way of serious reading. His father was proud of him, but there was a growing sense of uneasiness about his religious studies. He saw little of the boy, who spent his evenings in his own room, filled with books he had bought himself in the old book shops. Floyd couldn’t understand them. The maps which hung on the walls of his den were more intelligible.
A distant cousin of Julie’s came to America ostensibly on business. The Bank, taken over by the family, had grown enormously rich under American management. Mr. Gonzola was highly cultured—a dark, handsome man with white hands and long tapering fingers. He was delighted with the boy and his knowledge of international literature. He found him reading Renan.
“That’s forbidden, isn’t it?”
The boy answered with a gleam of humor.
“Not forbidden, but not taught. I read all they recommend in school, and all they forget, out of it.”
Then came a letter from Father Cabello to Julie. He was very glad to hear that everything continued to be so satisfactory with her. The wonderful gifts of her boy interested him; he saw in his genius the hand of God leading him into the Divine path. They must decide now about his career.
Julie handed the letter to Floyd, who read it carefully and understood its hidden significance.