A Model Teacher and Ideal Student.
The days and weeks flew swiftly by. The fame of the great air-ship spread far and wide, and thousands of visitors came to inspect it and the wonderful voyagers. But what especially drew the people, and was talked of more than all else, was the marvelous skill of Dr. Jones as a healer. The beautiful Feodora improved from day to day, so that she daily drove with her devoted and constant companions, Mrs. Jones and Mattie. She began to eat heartily, gained flesh rapidly, and her cough had nearly left her. Roses of health assumed the place of hectic flush, and she was the talk and wonder of everyone who knew of her former hopeless condition.
Many were the consultations held by Dr. Jones, with the grateful and goodnatured Count for interpreter. Money and honors poured in upon him, though he never made any sort of charge for advice or medicine. The better class of patients invariably left upon the table one or more pieces of gold.
"Maggie, do you know that I have no idea of what to do with all this money? If it keeps on this way, I shall be obliged to found a college and hospital when we get back to Washington. Wouldn't it be grand if I could break down the prejudices and legal barriers in this great country, and establish our school upon an even footing with the old school?"
"The Count must have influence at court. I should think that he might be of great help to you," suggested Mrs. Jones.
"That is a good thought, and I will have a talk with him upon the subject at the first opportunity."
The Count, meantime, was closely watching the Doctor's methods and the results. He was delighted to note that many chronic cases recovered under the treatment; and acute diseases yielded as if by magic to his all-powerful infinitesimal doses.
"This is something utterly incomprehensible," he said to the Doctor one evening, as the friends sat with him in his office, smoking and talking. "Your medicines are working wonders, and yet I cannot understand how it is possible for so minute a particle as is contained in one of your doses to act so potently and profoundly upon a great mass of blood, flesh, and bones, like the human body. That it does so is beyond question. I have watched you carefully, and am thoroughly converted to your system."
"Wouldn't it be a glorious thing for Russia if this system of medicine could have at least an opportunity of being heard, and of exemplifying the fact that it is founded upon science, and that beside it there is no other?" cried Dr. Jones.
"Suppose you had an opportunity, by what method would you prove this system to be what you claim for it?" asked Professor Gray.