"She _shall_ find it! I will find it for her. There's no need to worry
about September. What we want to know is what she is to do _now_?--to-
morrow--for the rest of the holidays?"
"I can't afford any more injections! They've done me no good, and they
cost too much. I can't afford any more treatments. I can only take
medicines. If you will give me some medicines--"
Dr Blank sat silent; tapping his desk with noiseless fingers; staring
thoughtfully across the room. It was evident that he had a proposition
to make; evident also that he doubted its reception.
"The best thing under the circumstances--the wisest thing," he said
slowly at last, "would be for you to go into hospital as an ordinary
patient. I could get you a bed in one of my own wards, where I could
look after you myself, in consultation with the first men in town. You
could have massage, electricity, radium, heat baths, every appliance
that could possibly be of use, and you could stay on long enough to give
them a chance. It would be an ordinary ward, remember, an ordinary bed
in an ordinary ward, and your neighbours would not be up to Newnham
standard! You would be awakened at five in the morning, and settled for
the night at eight. You would have to obey rules, which would seem to
you unnecessary and tiresome. You would be, I am afraid, profoundly
bored. On the other hand, you would have every attention that skill and
science can devise. You would not have to pay a penny, and you would
have a better chance than a duchess in a ducal palace. Think it over,
and let me know! If you decide to go, I'll manage the rest. Take a
day--a couple of days."
"I won't take two minutes, thank you! I'll decide now. I'll go, of
course, and thank you very much!"
Dr Blank beamed with satisfaction.
"Sensible girl! Sensible girl! That's right! That's right! That's
very good! You are doing the right thing, and we'll all do our best for
you, and your friend here will come to see you and help to make the time
pass. Interesting study, you know; valuable opportunity of studying
character if you look at it in that light! Why not turn it into
literary capital? `Sketches from a Hospital Bed,' `My Neighbours in B
Ward,' might make an uncommonly good series. Who knows? We may have
you turning out quite a literary star!"
Sophie smiled faintly, being one of the people who would rather walk
five miles than write the shortest letter. Many unexpected things
happen in this world, but it was certain that her own rise to literary
eminence would never swell the number! But she knew that Dr Blank was
trying to cheer her, so she kept that certainty to herself.
The two girls made their way back to Sophie's lodgings, and discussed
the situation over the ever-comforting tea.
"I shall have to give my landlady notice," Sophie said, looking
wistfully round the little room which had been so truly a home. "If I'm
to be in hospital for many weeks, it's folly to go on paying the rent;
and in any case I can't afford so much now. One can't have doctor's
bills, and other luxuries as well. What shall I have to take into
hospital? Will they allow me to wear my own things? I don't think I
_could_ get better in a calico night-dress! Pretty frills and a blue
ribbon bow are as good as a tonic, but will the authorities permit?
Have you ever seen ribbon bows in a hospital bed?"
"I haven't had much experience, but I should think they would be
encouraged, as a ward decoration! I hope so, I'm sure, for I mean to
present you with a duck of a dressing-jacket!"
"Oh, nothing more, Claire; don't give me anything more. I shall never
be able to pay you back," cried Sophie; then, in a voice of poignant
suffering, she cried sharply, "Oh, Claire, my little sister! _What_ is
to become of my little sister? If I am not able to help, if I need to
be helped myself, her education will be interrupted, for it will be
impossible to go on paying. Oh, it's too hard--too dreadful!
Everything seems so hopeless and black!"
"Yes, it does. The way seems blocked. One can't see a step ahead.
_Man's extremity_, Sophie!" cried Claire deeply--"_Man's extremity_;"
and at that a gleam of light came into Sophie's eyes.
"Yes, yes! That's just what it is. Thanks for reminding me. _God's
opportunity_!" Sophie leant back in her chair, staring dreamily into
space, till presently something of the old bright look came back to her
face. "And that," she said softly, "that's the kind of help it is sweet
to accept!"