Young Mrs. Gardiner looked fearfully and eagerly into the face of the
stern-countenanced old doctor who had just entered and had stepped up
hurriedly to his patient's bedside.
He had heard from the messenger who had come for him just what had
occurred to Jay Gardiner, and he was greatly puzzled.
"The toothache drops you speak of were compounded by me," he declared,
"and they certainly do not act as you describe. Ten drops would produce
balmy sleep. An overdose acts as an emetic, and would not remain a
moment's time on the stomach. That is their chief virtue--in rendering
an overdose harmless. I am confident the mischief can not lie with the
toothache drops."
Doctor Baker had entered and gone directly to the bedside of his
patient, as we have said, simply nodding to Miss Margaret, and not
waiting for an introduction to the bride. The moment his eyes fell upon
his patient, he gave a start of surprise.
"Ah," he muttered, "my case of instruments! Hand them to me quickly.
This is a case of life or death! Not an instant's time is to be lost. I
dare not wait for the coming of the consulting physicians who have been
sent for."
"What are you about to do?" cried Sally, springing forward, her eyes
gleaming.
"I am about to perform a critical operation to save my patient's life,
if it be possible. Every instant of time is valuable."
"I say it shall not be done!" cried young Mrs. Gardiner. "I, his wife,
command that you do not proceed until the rest of the doctors sent for
arrive and sanction such an action!"
The old doctor flushed hotly. Never, in all the long years of his
practice, had his medical judgment ever been brought into question
before, and at first, anger and resentment rose in quick rebellion in
his heart; the next instant he had reasoned with himself that this young
wife should be pardoned for her words, which had been uttered in the
greatest stress of excitement.
"My dear Mrs. Gardiner--for such I presume you to be--your interference
at this critical moment, attempting to thwart my judgment, would--ay, I
say _would_--prove fatal to your husband. This is a moment when a
physician must act upon his own responsibility, knowing that a human
life depends upon his swiftness and his skill, I beg of you to leave all
to me."
"I say it shall not be!" cried Sally, flinging herself across her
husband's prostrate body. "Touch him at your peril, Doctor Baker!"
For an instant all in the apartment were almost dumbfounded. Miss
Margaret was the first to recover herself.
"Sally," she said, approaching her sister-in-law slowly, her blue eyes
looking stealthily down into the glittering, frenzied green ones, "come
with me. You want to save Jay's life, don't you? Put down that knife,
and come with me. You are wasting precious moments that may mean life or
death to the one we both love. Let me plead with you, on my knees, if
need be, to come with me, dear."
Sally Gardiner stood at bay like a lioness. Quick as a flash, she had
thought out the situation.
If Jay Gardiner died, she would be free to fly with Victor Lament. If
she refused to allow the doctor to touch him, he would die, and never
discover the loss of the diamonds, or that she had borrowed money from
his friends on leaving Newport.
If he died, she would be a wealthy woman for life, and she would never
be obliged to look again into the face of the handsome husband whom she
hated--the husband who hated her, and who did not take the pains to
conceal it in his every act each day since he had married her.
Ah! if he only died here and now it would save her from all the ills
that menaced her and were closing in around her. This was her
opportunity. Fate--fortune had put the means of saving herself in her
hands.
Even the good doctor was sorely perplexed. He saw that young Mrs.
Gardiner was a desperate woman, and that she meant what she said.
"Will nothing under Heaven cause you to relent?" cried Margaret,
wringing her hands, her splendid courage breaking down completely under
the great strain of her agony. "My poor mother lies in the next room in
a death-like swoon, caused by the knowledge of her idolized son's fatal
illness. If he should die, she would never see another morning's sun
after she learned of it. One grave would cover both."