"Among your charge's hallucinations," said Dr. Oleander, just before
they arrived, "the chief is that she is not crazy at all. She will tell
you she has been brought here against her will; that I am a tyrant and
a villain, and the worst of men; and she will try and bribe you, I dare
say, to let her escape. Of course you will humor her at the time, but
pay not the least attention."
"Of course," Mrs. Susan Sharpe answered.
There was a pause, then the nurse asked the first question she had put:
"What is my patient's name, sir?"
Dr. Oleander paused an instant, and mastered a sudden tremor. His voice
was quite steady when he replied:
"Miss Dane. Her friends are eminently respectable, and have the utmost
confidence in me. I have every reason to hope that the quiet of this
place and the fresh sea air will eventually effect a cure."
"I hope so, sir," Mrs. Susan Sharpe said; and the pink-rimmed eyes
glowed behind the green glasses, and into the tallow-candle complexion
crept just the faintest tinge of red.
It was an inexpressibly lonely place, as Mrs.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267