Page:Christopher Wren--the wages of virtue.djvu/32

xxx "If it were anybody else but you I shouldn't know what to say or do. As it's you, my course is clear, for you're the last thing in discretion, wisdom and understanding. … But don't ask me his name. … I know him. … Look here, it's like this. His wife's married again. … There's a kid. … They're well known in Society. … Awful business. … Ghastly scandal. … Shockin' position." Captain Strong took Doctor John Williams by the arm. "Look here, old chap," he said once again. "Need you do this? It isn't as though he was 'conscious,' so to speak, and in pain."

"Yes, I must do it," replied the doctor without hesitation, as the other paused.

"But why?" urged Strong. "I'm absolutely certain that if M, er—that is—this chap—could have his faculties for a minute he would tell you not to do it. … You'll take him from a sort of negative happiness to the most positive and acute unhappiness, and you'll simply blast the lives of his wife and the most excellent chap she's married. … She waited a year after this chap 'died' in—er—that last Polar expedition—as was supposed. … Think of the poor little kid too. … And there's estates and a ti so on. …"

"No good, Strong. My duty in the matter is perfectly clear, and it is to the sick man, as such."

"Well, you'll do a damned cruel thing … er—sorry, old chap, I mean do think it over a bit and look at it from the point of view of the unfortunate lady, the second husband, and the child. … And of the chap himself. … By God! He won't thank you."

"I look at it from the point of view of the doctor and I'm not out for thanks," was the reply.