He became a lonely wanderer for a while, until time and distance had in some wise seared the bleeding wound in his heart; then he became a student in a Parisian school of medicine for specialists, studying diseases of the brain, for which he had acquired a taste in his short stay at the Weston lunatic asylum. There he remained almost two years, only returning home when he began to believe that his heart was cured of its grievous wound, that he could bear to meet Eva again if by chance their paths should cross, with the calmness of indifference, mixed with disdain at her cruelty.
He knew that she lived in New York. Perhaps it was for that very reason he decided to remain there for a time before returning home. He wished to convince himself of his perfect cure.
The poor fellow, instead of studying brain lesions, might better have investigated incurable heart maladies.
To give himself an excuse for staying he consented to act as a substitute for a famous medical friend of his in a famous New York hospital while his friend went abroad for a needed rest during the winter months.
Thus he was in a position to learn all of his lady’s life and thoughts that lay open to public view.
More than once he had seen her, too, at opera or ball, or in her carriage in the park, though she dreamed not of the nearness of the discarded lover who filled so many mournful thoughts.
He had not failed to learn, too, of her reported betrothal to Reginald Hamilton, and if it touched an aching chord in a wounded heart he made no sign; he bore it like a stoic.
When he saw the handsome young millionaire he owned to himself that it was a suitable match for Eva. She would be happy at last, and as for him—well, had he not forgotten, or, at least, learned indifference?
But after that he stayed away from places where he was likely to see her, and devoted himself with ardor to the hospital work.
Not that he needed money, for he was a millionaire now, but he could not be a drone, like Reginald Hamilton, he told himself bitterly. He had been brought up to work and he liked it, having a passion for his profession.