Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/134

110 “But you have answered it, madam,” replied Randolph Mason.

The younger Mrs. Van Bartan covered her face with her hands, and began to sob. The counsellor sat and watched her, as an expert might watch an intricate piece of machinery that he was testing. There was no emotion of any sort visible in his face—nothing at all, except the intense interest of the expert.

Presently Mason leaned back in his chair. The result was evidently satisfactory.

“Is this man married?” he asked.

The woman did not answer. She simply pressed her hands tighter against her face. The counsellor waited for a few moments. Then he repeated:

“Is this man married?”

The woman's hands trembled violently. “No,” she sobbed, “and he never will be.”

The lines in the face of Randolph Mason grew deep and resolute as one has seen the lines in the face of a great physician when, in some desperate case, he finally turned from the bedside of the patient in order to write the prescription upon which he had decided.