The
new doctor came and went. Hilda sent, at Derry's request, a bulletin
of the patient's condition. The General must be kept from excitement;
otherwise there was not reason for alarm.
But Derry was conscious, as the night wore on, and Bronson left him,
and he sat alone, of more than the physical evidences of Hilda's
presence; he was aware of the spiritual effect of her sojourn among
them. She had stolen from them all something that was fine and
beautiful. From Derry his faith in his father. From the General his
constancy to his lovely wife. The structure of ideals which Derry's
mother had so carefully reared for the old house had been wrecked by
one who had first climbed the stairs in the garb of a sister of mercy.
He saw his father's future. Hilda, cold as ice, setting his authority
aside. He saw the big house, the painted lady smiling no more on the
stairs. Hilda's strange friends filling the rooms, the General's men
friends looking at them askance, his mother's friends staying away.
Poor old Dad, poor old Dad. All personal feeling was swept away in the
thought of what might come to his father.
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