"Anything—anything that will spare my child to me and save her suffering," burst impetuously from William Seabrook's lips.
"You have heard of—Christian Science?"
"What!" demanded the astonished principal of Hilton Seminary, sitting suddenly erect and bending a look of scorn upon his companion. "You suggest such an absurd alternative as that to me, and for such a case as this!"
"I know it sounds absurd; but, as I said before, it could at least do no harm."
"The suggestion is ridiculous; I have no patience with it," was the sharp retort.
"Well, it may seem ridiculous to you, but if it can cure one disease I do not know why it could not others," the physician mildly rejoined; and then he proceeded to relate the story which Katherine had told her teacher that same hour, but without mentioning any names.
"Nonsense! It was simply hypnotism, mesmerism," said the elder man when he concluded.
"No, it did not work at all like hypnotism," was the positive reply. "However, if you are opposed to trying it, there is nothing more to be said."
"I am opposed to it, most decidedly," said the professor, almost harshly, and his brother wondered at his unusual mood. "I believe the whole thing—root, branch and practice—to be an invention of Satan himself, and I would not give it countenance under any circumstances."
"Not even to save your nearest and dearest?" queried Phillip Stanley, and wholly unable to account for the excitement and irritability of his usually dignified and high-bred relative.