Señor Guillermo Gonzales handed him the card of the prospective visitor, and said: “A physician, who wishes to assist in caring for the wounded and dying. It is at the request of Julio that he comes here.”
At that moment the door opened at the order of Señor Guillermo Gonzales, and Juan ushered in William Jones, M. D., but not alone. He was accompanied by a much smaller and younger looking man, whom he introduced to Señor Guillermo Gonzales as “my secretary, Francis Maynard.”
William Jones, M. D., bowed very stiffly when presented to the Governor and Helen Hinckley, but was very profuse in his expressions of sympathy when he was presented to the wounded scientist.
“Ah, friend Julio, I could not resist coming to see you, after hearing of your terrible accident. Gentlemen, I recognize in this unfortunate man a friend of my youth. I beg of you to let me attend him. I have no business at present, and your duties are many.”
Questioning glances passed between Helen Hinckley, Guillermo Gonzales and the Governor. Even Juan felt that something was radically wrong, and as he looked from one to the other with a hopeful expression in his face, he turned away, and as his eyes fell upon the face of Doctor Jones, he shook his head, which confirmed all that his suspicions had been aroused, and he evidently believed Doctor Jones to be the suspicions person. The two strangers did not accept the chairs offered them, and all in the room remained standing.
Doctor Jones, seemingly unconscious of the suspicions his presence had aroused, continued: “If my medical skill avails anything, the son of Señora Suzzan Carriles, of Colima, shall not leave this existence until the great work he is trying to accomplish is a success. Until ‘Memory Fluid,’ and the wonderful results obtained by the use of it, are heralded from one end of the universe to the other. It is a great and noble cause for which you are working,—to see that justice is meted to all. ‘The Plunger from Kansas’ is not the only one to whom justice will be meted out. The ample proof at hand that he committed the great cattle theft in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and was then the cause of suffering and poverty of many whom fortune favored in the way of helping on retribution, by causing many whom he wronged, to live another life at the same time the Plunger lived, that this very thing for which you are working might come to pass. Gentlemen, let me congratulate you, one and all.” With that the enthusiastic doctor shook hands with the three scientists and Miss Hinckley. Everyone present except himself seemed to be very much constrained.
He rubbed his hands in evident satisfaction, and as he sat down by Julio’s bedside he continued: “You will do me a very great favor not to linger here any longer. Others need your services badly. It will give me much pain to leave the son of Señora Suzzan Carriles, of Colima. Sit down, Francis, sit down. I may need you. Gentlemen, consider yourselves at liberty to go now.”
Great astonishment was written on the faces of the Governor, Señor Guillermo Gonzales, Miss Hinckley and Juan. They were too much surprised at the audacity of Doctor Jones to speak. Even Francis Maynard showed great uneasiness as he took a seat near the chair of Doctor Jones.
Governor Lehumada offered Miss Hinckley his arm, and without a word they left the room, followed by Señor Guillermo Gonzales, who tarried a moment to give a few directions to Juan, and speak a moment with his coworker, Julio Murillo.
When the three were safely in the Governor’s private study, and the door securely locked, the Governor motioned all to be seated. Standing in front of them he laughed merrily, as he said: “It was well for my reputation that no stranger was present when Doctor Jones invited us to leave our own apartments, and we quietly obeyed without any comments whatever.”