“My dear doctor, those appointments are made by a hospital board of nine directors.”
“There is a power behind the throne,” returned Ludington, with a slightly significant smile.
“You mean that I may be able to influence them in your favor?” returned the governor, with an uneasy conviction that he had been interviewed on this subject before by several aspiring young physicians. Secretly he thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t written to the directors in their favor yet. So he said cordially:
“I will write to the directors and recommend you for the place. I will also see the member from Alderson personally when he passes through Charleston next week, en route to the next board meeting at Weston. I will certainly secure the place for you if I can!”
“A thousand thanks, your excellency. You make me your debtor forever. I would rather have that position at Weston than sit in a senator’s seat at Washington.”
“I do not understand your enthusiasm.”
“Will you understand it better when I tell you that Eva Somerville is a patient at Weston?”
“Insane? Poor girl!”
“Yes, driven mad by the scandal that smirched her name, and the awful tragedy for which that cruel old man Groves banished her from home.”
“It was cruel. But you—can you take such an interest in the girl, your enemy?”