MRS. SEABROOK TAKES A STAND.
On her way back, after Dr. Stanley's departure, Katherine stopped
at the house of a friend to make a call.
She found her in a pavilion that flanked a corner of the veranda,
and with her some other young people, all of whom were busily
engaged with the new fad of basket making. They were just on the
point of having light refreshments and heartily welcomed her to
their circle, where the time slipped unheeded by until a clock,
somewhere, striking the half hour after twelve, warned her that
lunch at home would soon be served, and Sadie, even now, must be
wondering what had become of her.
But when she reached home the girl was nowhere to be found. It was
after one o'clock and lunch waiting when she finally came slowly
up the hill, which sloped to the beach behind the house, and
Katherine was sure, from her flushed cheeks and reddened lids,
that she had been crying.
There was no opportunity for any confidential conversation during
the meal, for the waitress was in the room, and, after making a
very light repast, Sadie observed she "reckoned she'd go take a
nap," and abruptly leaving the table, disappeared.
Katharine was deeply thoughtful while finishing her lunch. "He has
been here," she said to herself as she folded and slipped her
napkin into its ring; then, with a resolute uplifting of her head,
she followed Sadie upstairs and tapped upon her door. "Please
excuse me for a little while, honey," came the response from
within, but in unnatural tones.
"But, Sadie, I am sure that something is troubling you; and,
besides, I have an item of important news to tell you," her friend
persisted.
"Well, then, come," was the reluctant reply, and Katherine
entered, to find the girl, as she had surmised, in tears.
"I knew it, dear," she said, going to her side. "I was sure you
were grieving about something, and I believe that Ned Willard is
the cause of it. I saw him this morning when I was out with Dr.
Stanley."
"You did! He didn't say that he had seen you," exclaimed Sadie, in
astonishment. Then, realizing how she had committed herself, she
colored a vivid scarlet and fell to weeping afresh.
"Ah! then he has been here!" said Katherine. "I thought so, when
you came in to lunch." There was a moment of awkward silence, then
she resumed: "Sadie, I do not wish to force your confidence, but I
am going to tell you frankly what is on my mind, and I hope you
will feel it is only my friendship for you that impels me to say
it. I noticed, for a long time before school closed, that you were
not yourself, that you were depressed and unhappy, and I was
confident that Mr. Willard was the cause of it; that it was on his
account you refused to go to Europe with your guardian. It even
seemed to me that you were almost on the point of taking some
step, doing something rash, from which you instinctively shrank,
and when I asked you to come home with me you seized the
opportunity as a loophole of escape. Of course, I have not been
blind and I have suspected that certain letters which have come to
you here were from Mr. Willard, and when I saw him to-day I feared
he had followed you and would make you 'wretched' again. I did not
know him at first, but he recognized me and spoke to me."
She paused irresolute for a moment, then continued:
"I am going to tell you all, Sadie, for I know it is right you
should learn the truth. Dr. Stanley looked amazed when Mr. Willard
spoke to me, and inquired, if I knew the man. I told him I had
simply been introduced to him, and he said, 'He is a person whose
acquaintance is very undesirable; he is a drunkard and a gambler;
he belongs to a good family, but he is their thorn in the flesh,
because of his dissolute ways.' Perhaps this sounds harsh, even
unkind to you, but I am trying to do by you as I would by my own
sister if I had one. I don't want you to spoil your life, Sadie."
The girl had been growing more composed during Katherine's
revelations, and when she concluded she sat up on the bed, threw
her handkerchief away and faced her.
"I am glad that you have told me this, Katherine," she said,
drawing a deep breath, "and I have longed, ever since I came to
this 'house of peace'--for it has been that to me--to tell you
this secret that has been eating my heart out. I did continue to
meet Ned on the sly, even after I promised you, last spring, that
I would not. I wrote him, as I told you I would, about going to
Mr. Farnsworth and doing the square thing; but he only laughed at
me and still insisted upon seeing me the same as ever. I--I really
am fond of him, honey," she confessed, a vivid blush suffusing her
face. "Ned has good qualities, in spite of his faults. I know that
he has been in the habit of drinking some, but we Southerners
don't mind that as much as you Northerners do. I--I didn't know
about his gambling--that seems dreadful. I know he thinks the
world of me, for when my guardian said he was going to take me to
Europe he was perfectly wild about it; so that is why I gave it
up. Then he wanted--oh! Katherine! how can I tell you--"and the
scarlet face went down upon the pillow again.
"Yes, dear, I suspected it--I almost knew that he wanted you to
marry him secretly, and you came very near consenting--would have
taken the irrevocable step perhaps if I had not asked you to come
with me," gently interposed her friend.
"Katherine! What made you think that?" and the girl started up
again, amazed.
"Oh! several things; your fits of abstraction, your
'homesickness,' your 'wretchedness,' and the remarkable reaction
that followed your acceptance of my invitation."
"Well, honey, it was true, and I shall always love you for saving
me from that, for I knew it was wrong. I was beginning to get my
eyes open a little, though, and to feel that Ned should not have
asked me to marry him in any such way; but I hardly knew which way
to turn," Sadie confessed, with downcast eyes.
"Of course, I am glad to have you with me; but perhaps going to
Europe would have been the better plan. It would have taken you
out of his way," Katherine thoughtfully observed.
"I couldn't leave--I--I didn't want to," faltered her companion,
and Katherine sighed as she saw that there was an even stronger
attachment here than she had suspected.
"He has been trying to persuade me to--to go away with him ever
since I came here," Sadie resumed, and evidently determined to
keep nothing back; "and to-day he came upon me suddenly while you
were away, and he wasn't very kind"--her lips quivered painfully
over those last words; "but," she presently went on, "since I have
been here many things have begun to seem different to me, and I
had made up my mind to go back to school and do my very best next
year; but if Ned is going to keep on bothering me like this, I
shall be wretched."
"If he comes again I think we will have to let papa deal with
him," said Katherine, gravely.
"Oh! I wouldn't have your father or mother know anything about it
for the world," cried Sadie, in distress. "I begin to feel ashamed
of the whole affair myself, and I would not marry him on the sly
now for anything. But he claims that I am pledged to him, and says
he will make trouble for me if I try to dodge him," and the girl
nervously twisted a diamond ring; which she wore on the first
finger of her left hand.
"There is nothing to prevent you from releasing yourself from any
such rash pledge if you choose to do so," said Katharine. Then she
asked: "Is that your engagement ring, dear?"
"Yes; but I haven't dared to wear it on the right finger, for I
didn't want anyone to know," she admitted, with a blush of shame.
Katherine leaned forward and smiled fondly into her eyes.
"You understand, I am sure, that I do not wish to meddle in an
affair of this kind; but if you will allow me. I would advise you
to return that ring at once. Tell Mr. Willard that you revoke your
promise to him, and that henceforth he is to leave you unmolested.
Think it over, Sadie, and I am sure your own good judgment will
tell you this would be the wiser course. Now I will leave you to
take your nap, for I think you need it," and, kissing her softly,
she left the room.
The next morning a great burden rolled from her heart when she saw
Sadie hand the postman a letter and a small package on which there
was a special delivery stamp, and she earnestly hoped that this
step in the right direction would forever end the disagreeable
affair.
The following day the Seabrooks arrived, and our "brown-eyed
lassie" was very happy to have so many of her school friends
around her; but it was impossible not to see how pale and worn
Mrs. Seabrook looked, and that Dorrie had failed not a little.
After a few days, however, the child appeared to improve a trifle,
and everybody else began to look refreshed and hopeful once more.
Dr. Stanley devoted the greater portion of his time to her, and
she was never so happy as when he wheeled her to some point where
she could have an unobstructed view of the ocean and watch the
foam-crested waves as they broke upon the rocks on the shore.
At times, when she was sleeping or being cared for by the ever-
faithful Alice, the physician and his sister might have been found
at the Minturn home, where many a pleasant hour was spent on its
broad verandas, and where the subject of Christian Science was
often the theme of conversation, and Mrs. Minturn was plied with
numerous questions by Miss Reynolds and the doctor also.
Mrs. Seabrook rarely joined in these discussions, but Katherine
observed that she was a very attentive listener.
Miss Reynolds had become an enthusiastic student; in fact, she was
having class instruction under Mrs. Minturn, and did not hesitate
to avow her full acceptance of its teachings.
Dr. Stanley maintained, at first, a very conservative attitude;
but it was apparent that he had read more on the subject than he
was ready to admit.
Once he quoted a passage from "Unity of Good" [Footnote: By Mary
Baker G. Eddy] and asked Mrs. Minturn to explain it, whereupon
Katherine bent a look of surprise on him.
He caught her glance, flushed slightly, then smiled.
"Yes, Miss Minturn," he said, "after glancing at your book, that
day when we met under the beech tree, I felt a curiosity to know
more of what it contained, so bought a copy and--yes--read it
through three times."
"Have you read 'Science and Health'?" inquired Mrs. Minturn.
"Yes, twice, and 'Miscellaneous Writings' [Footnote: By Mary Baker
G. Eddy] once. What do you think of such a confession as that from
a doubly dyed M.D.?" he concluded, with heightened color and
stealing a side glance at his sister.
"I should say you are getting on pretty well," replied his
hostess.
"No; I am not getting on at all," he asserted, with an
uncomfortable shrug. "I don't understand them and I find I am at
cross-purposes all the time."
"Yes, I can comprehend that, if you are trying to mix materia
medica and Science; you will have to drop one or the other, or
still be at 'cross-purposes,'" returned the lady.
The gentleman made no reply, and the subject was changed.
"Well, Phillip, you electrified me this afternoon!" Mrs. Seabrook
observed, when, later, they were by themselves at home.
"Why? Because of the books I confessed to having read?"
"Yes; when did you begin to be so interested in Christian
Science?"
"When that child was healed of seasickness on shipboard."
"And--are you going to adopt it?"
"I don't know, Emelie. I haven't reached that point yet."
"I should hope not after all your years of study and practice, to
say nothing about the expense involved," returned his sister, in a
tone of disapproval, for she was exceedingly proud of her
successful brother. "Are you becoming dissatisfied with your
profession, Phillip?" she asked, after a moment.
"When I encounter a case like Dorrie's I am dissatisfied with it,"
he admitted, with a quiver of his mobile lips. "When I am called
to a case that responds quickly to treatment, I feel all the old
enthusiasm tingling within me. Then, again, when I attend our
medical associations and find the faculty discarding" methods and
remedies which were once pronounced 'wonderful discoveries,' and
substituting something new or something that had years ago been
discarded, I become disgusted, and declare there is no science in
materia medica; that it is but 'a bundle of speculative theories,'
as Mrs. Eddy puts it in her startling chapter on 'Medicine.'"
[Footnote: "Science and Health," page 149.]
"What rank heresy, Phil!" exclaimed his sister, with a laugh.
"I know it, and I have been in a very uncomfortable state of
'mental chemicalization'--which is another pat phrase coined by
that same remarkable woman--over it for some time."
"Dear me! what is the world coming to with its ever-changing
creeds, doctrines and opinions? One begins to feel that there is
no really solid foundation to anything," replied Mrs. Seabrook,
with a troubled brow. "Phillip!"--with a start and a sudden
blanching of her face--"are you losing faith in your treatment of
Dorothy?"
"I should have all faith if she were improving under it," he
returned, moodily.
"But she isn't! You are seeing that as well as I," and the
mother's voice broke with sudden anguish. "Oh, if you are losing
faith I shall know there is no hope."
"Don't, Emelie," pleaded her brother; "I really am hoping much
from this change--"
"Ah! that is equivalent to saying that you have exhausted your
methods--that our only hope now is in a salubrious atmosphere,
etc. It has been the same story, over and over," she wailed.
"Every physician we have had--his resources having failed--has
suggested 'change of air and scene,' and 'hoped that nature would
do the rest.' What do you doctors mean by that? What is 'nature'?"
she concluded, almost wildly.
"I see, Emelie, you feel that is a way of begging the question to
secure release from a doubtful position," the man returned, sadly.
"Well"--with a sigh--"I am forced to admit that none of our
remedies are infallible. But, it should not be so," he went on,
thoughtfully, "For years I have felt it when disease has baffled
me; there should be a panacea--a universal remedy, provided by an
all-wise Creator for suffering humanity; but, ah! to find it!"
At those words Mrs. Seabrook started and looked up quickly.
"Have you those books--that you mentioned to-day--with you?" she
inquired.
"Yes."
"I want to read them."
"Will would never forgive me for putting them into your hands."
Mrs. Seabrook sat suddenly erect.
"I am not a child that I must have my reading selected for me,"
she retorted, spiritedly. "But, I can buy them."
"Dear, I wouldn't force you to that expense to gain your point,"
said her brother, as he tenderly laid his arm around her
shoulders. "They are in my trunk, and you can have them whenever
you wish. But you are tired--go to bed now, and I hope you will
have a good night's rest."
"I am afraid I have seemed cross and out of sorts, Phil. Perhaps I
also am in a state of 'mental chemicalization,'" she said, with a
faint smile that ended in a sob; "but, indeed, my heart is very
sore. I shall read your books, and, if they appeal to me, I--shall
have Christian Science treatment for my child," and there was a
ring of something very like defiance in her voice which smote
strangely on her brother's ear; for Emelie Seabrook had ever been
regarded as one of the gentlest and least self-willed of women.
But the reading of the books was postponed, for Dorrie began to
droop again, and the faithful mother could scarcely be persuaded
to leave her even for necessary food and sleep. Mrs. Minturn,
Katherine and Sadie were all tireless in their efforts to do
something to lighten her burdens. Many a delicacy found its way to
the cottage to tempt the capricious appetite of the child;
interesting incidents were treasured to relate to her, and many
devices employed to shorten the weary hours.
But there came a time that tried them all, for, in spite of the
greatest care and watchfulness, the girl contracted a sudden and
violent cold, and became so seriously ill that Dr. Stanley--though
he gave no sign of his fears--felt that the end was very near.
For three days he battled fiercely with the seeming destroyer,
while her suffering drove them all to the verge of despair.
At sunset of the third day, while attempting to change her
position, hoping to make her more comfortable, she suddenly lapsed
into a semi-conscious state from which they could not arouse her.
When this condition had lasted for upwards of half an hour Mrs.
Seabrook turned despairingly to her brother.
"Can you do nothing, Phillip?" she asked.
"I am afraid not, Emelie, except to continue giving the stimulants
to try to keep the spark of life a little longer," he returned
with white lips.
His sister caught her breath sharply.
"Then--will you give her up to--Mrs. Minturn?" she cried,
hoarsely.
He bent a look of surprised inquiry upon her.
"I am going to try it," she went on, still in that unnatural tone.
"I am going to try to save my child, and--I do not care who says
'no.'"
Phillip Stanley went to her, took her white face between his hands
and kissed her tenderly, as he said:
"Very well, Emelie, I will go at once for her, and, from my soul,
I am glad that you have taken this stand."
He hurried from the house and went with all speed to the Minturn
mansion. He found Mrs. Minturn on the veranda, Katherine and her
guests having gone for a walk.
"Will you come with me?" he asked. "You are needed at once." He
briefly explained the situation to her, and in less than five
minutes they were both at Dorothy's bedside.
"Oh, can you do anything for her?" helplessly moaned the heart-
broken mother as the woman entered the room.
"Dear heart, God is our refuge. He is the 'strength of our life';
of whom shall we be afraid?" Mrs. Minturn quoted in calm, sweet
tones, as she slipped a reassuring arm around Mrs. Seabrook's
waist; and, standing thus, she repeated the ninety-first psalm
through to the end; then dropping her face upon her hand, she
treated silently for ten minutes or more.
Meantime Dorothy's half-opened lids had gently closed, hiding the
sightless eyes, and she lay almost breathless upon her pillows.
Dr. Stanley, alertly observant of every change, believed it was
the end; but, having relinquished his patient, knowing that he was
absolutely helpless at this supreme moment, he made no sign.
Presently Mrs. Minturn broke the silence.
"Will you please leave me alone with her for a while?" she asked.
"Oh, I cannot leave my child!" panted Mrs. Seabrook, rebelliously.
"She is in our Father's care--our trust is in Him," Mrs. Minturn
gently returned. "Go into the next room and lie down. I promise to
call you if there is the slightest need, and, believe me, I ask
only what is best."
Dr. Stanley took his sister by the hand and led her unresistingly
from the room. He made her go to an adjoining chamber and lie upon
a couch, then seated himself beside her.
To his amazement her tense form almost instantly relaxed and in
twenty minutes she was asleep.
He sat there with his head bowed upon his hands for nearly two
hours, thinking as he had seldom thought during his whole life. At
the end of that time the door of Dorothy's room was noiselessly
opened and Mrs. Minturn beckoned to him.
He went to her--softly closing to but not latching the door of his
sister's room--to ascertain what she wanted, but with fear and
trembling.
"Please get me a glass of warm milk," she said to him.
"There is some brandy--" he began.
"No; milk, if you please," she returned, and disappeared within
the room.
A few minutes later he handed the glass in to her and the door was
shut again.
Another endless hour and a half he passed sitting upon a balcony
that opened off the same floor, waiting--waiting for he knew not
what.
Then Mrs. Minturn came to him with the empty tumbler in her hand.
"Have it filled again, please," she said.
"Is it for--Dorothy?"
"Yes; she has taken what you brought before and asked for more."
"Asked!" and in spite of his professional self-poise the man's
heart bounded into his throat.
"Yes, she is awake; is perfectly conscious and free from pain,
though weak, to sense; but we know that God is omnipresent
strength," Mrs. Minturn replied, with an assurance that proved to
him she was confidently resting upon the Rock of Ages, and which
also inspired him with hope.
When he returned with the milk he longed to go in and see for
himself how the child was progressing, but Mrs. Minturn stood in
the aperture of the half-opened door, and he instinctively knew
that his presence was not desired.
As she took the glass from him she inquired:
"Is Mrs. Seabrook sleeping?"
"I think so--she was when I left her."
"Pray let her rest," said his companion; "but if she should wake
tell her that Dorrie is more comfortable; that I shall remain with
her all night and do not wish to be disturbed. And you, Dr.
Stanley"--with gentle authority--"you must try to rest also; you
may safely trust the child to God, and with me as His sentinel,
for she is doing well. But first, if you will slip over to the
house and ask Katherine to send my night-wrapper I can make myself
more comfortable; just drop it outside the door, then go to bed
and 'be not faithless but believing,' Good-night."
She softly closed the door, and the man went obediently to do her
bidding; while, "after the storm there was a great calm" in his
heart.