Whatever power the
doctor had of seeing the condition of lungs and hidden machinery, he
certainly had the power of reading this woman's thoughts. He saw, as
clearly as if upon a printed page, the bewilderment of her mind. She
knew that something was intended---something not for her to know. That
the man had been brought to the cottage to be made the subject of a
scientific experiment she did not believe. She had looked to see him
die, but he did not die. He was mending fast; in a little while he
would be as well as ever he had been in his life. What had the doctor
done it for? Was it really possible that nothing was ever intended
beyond a scientific experiment, which had succeeded? In the case of any
other man, the woman's doubts would have been entirely removed; in the
case of Dr. Vimpany these doubts remained. There are some men of whom
nothing good can be believed, whether of motive or of action; for if
their acts seem good, their motive must be bad. Many women know, or
fancy they know, such a man--one who seems to them wholly and
hopelessly bad. Besides, what was the meaning of the secret
conversation and the widespread colloquies of the doctor and my lord?
And why, at first, was the doctor so careless about his patient?
"The time has come at last," said the doctor that evening, when the two
men were alone, "for this woman to go.
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