CHAPTER XIX
IT was hard to wait, but Betty decided to say nothing to Rose until next day. She merely asked her to spend the following afternoon with her, begging her to come early because Aunt Sarah was away and she would be alone as soon as her father returned to the shop.
The moment the two girls were alone, Betty divulged the secret. Rose was delighted and shared Betty’s confidence, but she was the less enthusiastic of the two. As she didn’t, in truth, suffer nearly so keenly because of her blindness as Betty suffered for her, so release from it did not seem so wildly thrilling a possibility as it seemed to the other.
They went by a roundabout way to the station, took the Paulding train, and waited there for the train for the north which stopped at Millville.
Betty had never been in the village street before. It was shockingly dirty as well as ugly, and the girl felt it a sad pity that it should be the first sight that would greet Rose after her long sitting in darkness. The Eagle Hotel, too, would have seemed extremely dingy elsewhere, though here it gained something from the contrast with the surrounding buildings; and its parlor though not plural, as the advertisement indicated, nor spacious, was fairly tidy and too faded and neutral to be offensive. Moreover, Dr. Vandegrift himself fell far short of the glamor of the newspaper portrait. But Bettyfelt no disappointment. His glasses with the wide black ribbon connected, and his pointed beard made him the ideal specialist to her, and though she knew Tommy would be disappointed in regard to the medals, she felt it more dignified of the doctor not to wear them. And Rose declared afterwards that she knew from the sound of his voice just how wonderful he was.
Rose was extremely easy in her movements, and when Betty explained that her friend was blind, the doctor was almost discourteous. As a matter of fact, he believed these well-dressed, well-bred strangers, who were obviously not of Millville, were trying to play a trick upon him. Indeed, Betty’s height and the direct gaze of the smaller girl led him to suspect that they acted as detectives. Then he looked sharply at the tall lady and saw that she was only a child, with a child’s innocent honesty in every line of her fair face, and he knew that she spoke the truth—that it wasn’t in her to do otherwise. And he wasn’t surprised when, with a quick, unexpected motion, he brought his hand so close to the little girl’s eyes that it almost grazed the lashes, she did not flinch. His tone changed immediately to that of utter suavity, as he put a few questions—professional-sounding questions.
Then he took them into a small inner room which was darkened, placed Rose in a big chair that made her feel as if she were going to have a tooth pulled, and putting an extra glass over one eye, flashed a light into hers and peered into them in turn. As he did so, he asked a great many questions as to the condition of her eyes before the attack of scarlet fever, and whether she remembered falling and striking on the back of her head. Then hewished to know whether she ever had spots or patches of color before her now, and whether there were any pressure on either side of her head, and many other questions which should, it seemed, have been simple to answer, but which were somehow very difficult for Rose. As she said to Betty afterwards, she no sooner answered a question than she felt she had stated the very opposite of the truth and ought to take it back. And once when he said: “You are quite sure it wasn’t the right?” she had declared that it was right and that was just what she had meant to say.
Finally he put out the light and raised the blind. Betty’s heart sank. He was through and he hadn’t even tried the eye-cup. Rose’s blindness was inveterate!
Dr. Vandegrift met her appealing gaze calmly.
“Well, young ladies, I make no promises,” he said in a large way. “The deeper one delves into science, the more one learns from nature, the more modest a man becomes, and the less inclined to boast. Now this is all I am willing to say. Of the four cases of blindness which I have treated and cured with my recently invented Galvano Eye-Cup, every one was much more serious than this young lady’s appears to be. If I could treat her once a week for six months, I feel assured that at the end of that time she would see as well as I do. Nay, better, for she wouldn’t even require glasses. As I said, it is not my habit to make promises, though I confess I am strongly tempted to do so in this case.”
Betty drew a long breath. Of course, they should have realized that the curecouldn’tbe instantaneous. But six months! Then she recollected that Rose had been blind only twice that period. And it was wickedto feel impatient of waiting only six months for the most marvelous happening possible.
“Are you going to be here, doctor?” she asked anxiously.
“I leave the hotel and the city to-morrow,” he returned. “But I have found so many cases here that need continued treatment that I shall return to Millville for one day each week.”
He handed Betty a dingy card.
“I shall be at this address every Wednesday, and if you wish to make a regular appointment, I can see you at any time between two and four in the afternoon—the mornings are all taken. But unless you are sure of coming regularly for the six months, you may as well not come again.”
“O, we will!” cried Betty. “Could you see us at this same time?”
He consulted a little book. “Yes, I can give you from quarter-past two until quarter-before three every Wednesday,” he declared. “My charges when I use the eye-cup continually, as I shall have to do with the young lady, are five dollars a visit.”
Betty grew white.
“I am not sure that we can come, then. I don’t believe we could pay that,” she faltered. “But perhaps Rose’s mother would feel she could. She doesn’t know of our coming—nobody does—and I wasn’t sure as we’d better tell her just at first. But I guess we’ll have to. And—I am almost sure she will, but I don’t feel as if we ought to make the appointment to-day.”
“Well, I am deeply interested in the case, and I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” he declared. “I’ll reduce it to threedollars. I believe you are right in feeling it would be better not to tell the young lady’s mother or anyone else about it until we are fairly near the end of the cure. There will come a time, of course, when it can’t be hidden. But for the present we’ll say nothing. I can’t afford to use the battery connected with the cup for less than three dollars, but if you will come every week and pay cash, I will do it for that—just to cover the cost of operation to me.”
“You are very good,” Betty cried impulsively.
“I don’t know,” he said, “I don’t know, I’m sure. I am interested in humanity, but I sometimes think it is my overwhelming interest in science that dominates me. And this case appeals to me scientifically, I must confess.”
Betty had made rapid calculations which seemed to justify her in making the appointment. She couldn’t, indeed, see ahead six months, but surely she was right in taking some risk. Certainly she would do great wrong to lose this wonderful opportunity.
“Then we will come next Wednesday and every Wednesday,” she said. “You can put us down, Rose Harrow and Betty Pogany, Wednesdays at quarter-past two.” And she took Rose’s hand, helped her out of the chair, and handed her her scarlet tam-o’-shanter.
“For this visit and the examination, however,” Dr. Vandegrift went on, “I shall have to ask you five dollars, which is half the customary fee.”
Again Betty’s heart sank. She had brought with her ten dollars which had been a Christmas present and which she had supposed would pay for the cure when she thought it was to be a matter of one visit. Then she hadfelt that it would help make out the weekly deficit. She and Rose could count on the car-fares they could save, which wouldn’t be the full ninety cents because they would have to ride more or less during the winter months, and she had twenty-five cents a week besides. Rose was a little spendthrift, and hadn’t a penny on hand, and Betty had less than a dollar outside of her gift. But she drew forth half her capital and handed it to him without a word.
He received it gravely and recorded their names.
“One thing more,” he added, with his hands on the door, “if I reduce my charges, you must promise me not only that you will not mention that fact to anybody, but that you will not let anybody know that you are coming here to me for treatment. In short, you must promise to say nothing to anybody about it.”
“I suppose we can—well, just sort of hint to Rose’s mother?” Betty asked.
“Not for the world—not for at least five months. If you let anyone know anything about it, you will run the risk of losing the treatment and Miss Rose will never regain her sight—which would be more than a pity. It would be a crime. I will tell you why I insist. The doctors about here are all madly jealous of me and are doing everything they can to make things disagreeable for me. They have made it impossible for me to keep these rooms after to-day, and they think they are rid of me for good. They don’t know of the rooms I have secured on Parrot Street, you see. And you come from South Paulding. Isn’t there a Dr. Mellen there?”
The girls admitted the fact.
“Well, it seems he is president of the county medicalsociety which puts him in a position to be especially disagreeable. He’s a bigoted fellow, and between you and I, ignorant as he can be—that is, in all that pertains to the eyes. If he knew I was to be here once a week, Dr. Mellen would move heaven and earth until he drove me out. He’s got money and influence, and unfortunately I am poor. What with my soft heart and my scientific mind, I keep myself poor by my charity. Now with you I won’t really make a cent. I shall just cover what electricity my battery consumes.”
“You are awfully good,” declared Betty earnestly, “and we won’t say a word, of course. Only there’s one gentleman who doesn’t really belong in South Paulding. He hasn’t been there long and doesn’t associate with the people and when he wants a doctor goes way to Philadelphia. He is our best friend. May we tell just him? He’d never breathe it.”
“I am sorry, but I couldn’t risk it. You see there are others depending on me to heal their eyes also, and for their sake I must not take any risks. If you are not willing to give me your unconditional promise, I can’t do anything for you. If you will kindly hand me my card, we will say good-bye at once,” he said very severely.
“O no, sir!” cried Betty in alarm. “Of course we’ll promise. We wouldn’t be so selfish, with all the other people wanting treatment. I only——”
“Very well,” he said, smiling pleasantly, “then I’ll show you how much I appreciate your action. If you give me your promise, I will also give you mine. If you both give me your word, and if you come each week regularly, I will promise you solemnly to make the cure.”
“I promise,” said Betty fervently, and Rose repeated the words. Dr. Vandegrift opened the door with a flourish and shook hands with them. They passed through the parlor, where a woman waited with a child with bandaged eyes, and out into the dirty street again.