"I hope you did not permit him to come into this
danger!"
A far duller observer than the doctor could have seen the intense love
of this beautiful girl for the young man referred to.
"He's out of peril, Miss Agnes," explained the doctor, "for we refused
to allow him to pass in."
No actress ever trod the stage on whose features the emotions of
pleasure and regret portrayed themselves at once, as on the face of
Agnes when heard these words.
"Would you rather have had us permit his entrance?" asked the doctor.
"For my own satisfaction and curiosity I would rather have had it so,
Doctor. But for his sake, no; a hundred times no."
"Ah, Miss Arnold, heart disease is sometimes worse than Yellow Jack,"
remarked the doctor half-seriously.
"Yes, yes, it is always so," said Agnes earnestly.
"I am surprised he allowed you to come here, Miss Arnold."
The doctor was evidently deeply interested in his wonderful and
beautiful nurse, and the artificial twinkle he forced into his gray
eyes could not mask his sincerity from Agnes, who answered:
"Doctor, Mr. Harkness was my intended husband; but a jealous and
mischievous young lady, who envied me I suppose, managed, through
deceit, to estrange us. And so"--
Agnes did not know how to finish the sentence. She studied what words
to utter in conclusion, until the pause became painfully awkward,
seeing which the doctor with much consideration said:
"I can guess Miss Arnold, what you would say, and I fear there has
been too much haste on both your parts for each other's happiness.
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