Sweetapple Cove | Page 4

"Evidently," I assented. "It is an unfair discrimination."
"And yet we're all just crazy for him. You can hardly understand how
the personality of the man permeates the wards, how he gives one the
impression of some wonderful being who has reached a pinnacle, and
remains there, smilingly, without heeding the crowd below that
worships and cheers. And how the patients adore him!"
She evidently expected no answer from me, nor did I venture upon one.
Her words were very significant, and gave me a rather hopeless feeling.
She was under the influence of the glamour of great names and
reputations. Her youth demanded hero-worship. Measured by her
standards I was but a nice friend, to whom she could even be
affectionate.
Presently, in her enjoyment of our modest little dinner, she turned to
me, appearing to forget the crowd, and sighed happily.
"This would all be so delightful," she said, "if...."
"I'll tell you, girlie," I said, "let us agree that all this has been a dream
of mine. We will say that I have never been in love with you, and
regard you now with profound indifference. It has been that which
some very amazing practitioners are pleased to call an error. Now you
will be able to enjoy happiness. As far as I am concerned I don't
suppose it can make me feel any worse."
"You're a dear good boy, John," she answered. "We shall always be
awfully good friends, and perhaps, some day ... Now you must tell me
all your plans."
"Ladies first," I objected.
"Well, my heart is still in Newfoundland, you know. But I'm going to
stay at least a year in New York. I'm going to work among the poorest

and most unpleasant, because I want to become self-reliant. Then I
shall go back home. Think of a trained nurse let loose in some of those
outports! I should just revel in it. I am an heiress worth five hundred
dollars a year of my own. That would keep a lot of people up there.
You see, I have a theory!"
"Will you be so kind as to share it with me?" I asked.
"Well, ordinary nursing is a humdrum thing" and there are thousands to
do it. It is the same thing with you. Just now, having no practice as yet,
you are working in laboratories with a lot of others; you run around
hospitals--also with a crowd. What do you know about your ability to
go right out and do a man's work, by yourself? That is what counts, to
my mind."
"I see the point," I informed her, "and you expect surely to return to the
land of codfish."
"Yes," she nodded, "and now what about you?"
"Oh, I am going there next week," I replied. She opened her eyes very
wide, vaguely scenting some sort of joke, but in this she erred.
"I see no use in remaining here," I said, with a determination as strong
as it was recent. "It would take me a long time to put myself on the
level of men like Taurus, and I don't want a lot of nurses falling in love
with me; I only asked for one. You are going back after a time. Very
well, I'm going now, and I'll wait for you. I can easily find some place
where a doctor is badly needed. You will answer my letters, won't
you?"
"I promise," she said, very gravely, "and it is a very good idea. One can
always do a man's work up there."
She ate a Nesselrode pudding while I enjoyed coffee and a cigar, to the
extent that I forgot to drink the one and allowed the other to go out
after a puff or two.

"Your money came from a good St. John's merchant who made it from
the people of the outports," she said. "You might spend a little on them
now, gracefully. They need it badly enough."
We remained silent for some time, thinking of the bleak coast of our
big island, where the price of our little dinner would have represented a
large sum, and then we left the restaurant and took a car up town.
When she finally held out her little hand to me it was warm, and I
fancied that from it came a current that was comforting, though it may
have been but the affectionate regard of some years of good friendship.
"You will dine again with me, next Thursday?" I asked her. "It will
take me a few days to get ready."
"Don't you think that Gordian knot had better be cut at once?" advised
Dora. "I won't change my mind, and you know I've always been an
obstinate thing. There are important things for both of us to achieve,