Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/141

 nerves are exhausted, and—your heart is seriously affected. You must give up all work at once, cancel all engagements, go to bed, and let yourself be taken care of."

"And if I refuse?" remarked the woman.

The doctor looked at her. There was a mocking light in her eyes that irritated him. He had tried to be considerate but convincing, and it had not worked. He turned a little brutal.

"Then you will play fast and loose with your life," he said, dryly. "I have warned you; if you choose to ignore the warning, you must bear the consequences." "You mean that I would probably die?" she demanded, the reckless light still dancing in her eyes. He met them squarely.

"Beyond one doubt," he replied, brusquely, and went away.

She disregarded his warning, as he had known she would do. It did not surprise him to see that she continued singing, and filling not only night but day with feverish excitement. Once she fainted on the stage, and twice her manager had to announce that she could not appear. But she sang, when she did appear, with as much magnetic vivacity and art as ever, and she was always seen after the performance at some restaurant with