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He had come upon an unexpected complication one undreamed of by himself or the consulting surgeons. "You know " said Leaver. Burns nodded, emphatically. "You bet I know," said he, and his hand came again upon Leaver's, and stayed there. Leaver went on again, slowly. Instant decision had been necessary, instant action.
He did not withdraw his gaze until she had turned away again, and the encounter had been but for the briefest space, yet when it was over John Leaver's colour had changed a little. For the moment it was as if nobody else had been in the room he was only dully conscious that upon his other side Winifred Chester was addressing him, and that he must make reply.
He was not the same man who had come out to Sunny Farm an hour before. Burns knew, as well as if he could have seen into Leaver's mind, the conflict that was going on there. The thing was settled, he would not retreat, yet there was still a fight to be fought the biggest fight of his life. On its issue was to depend the success or failure of the coming test.
When she went downstairs she found him waiting at the foot, looking up at her with his heart in his eyes, though his manner was as quiet and composed as ever. At his side stood Martha Macauley, excited and eager. The moment that Leaver's hand had released Charlotte's Martha had her in her arms. "You dear girl!" she cried. "Of all the romantic things I ever heard of!
"The location couldn't be better," responded Leaver's quiet voice. The car swung into the yard. The two men got out, crossed the sward, and stood upon the porch. Miss Mathewson met them at the door, her face bright, her eyes clear, only a little flush on either cheek betraying to Burns that she shared his tension. "Jamie seems in the best of condition," said she.
Leaver has done it before. Dr. Leaver is quite well now " "I know, I know. Feel of that!" He touched her hand with his own, which was icy cold. She started, and looked anxiously at him. "Doctor, you can't be well! This isn't you to be so nervous! Why, think of all the operations you've done, and never a sign of minding. And this isn't even your responsibility it's Dr. Leaver's."
The man drove on, but Kermode was not to be daunted by such a difficulty; besides, he had noticed Jim, the hired man, dawdling about the outside of the stable. When the buggy was out of sight, he accosted him. "I want the roan in half an hour," he said. "I see you have Mrs. Leaver's saddle here, and as she's away, you had better put it on. I'm going to take the lady you saw with me to Drummond."
It was more eloquent of Leaver's weakness than all his difficult words. When he met Miss Mathewson, an hour afterward, in the hall, on her way back to her patient, he delayed her. "I want you to do more than nurse this case, Amy," he said, fixing her with a certain steady look of his with which he always gave commands. "I want you to put all your powers, as a woman, into it.
"Leaver's made of steel wires," had been his description of his friend to Ellen. Well, the steel wires were stretched and broken, now, no doubt of that. The question was whether they could ever be mended and restrung. When Leaver was comfortable again, comfortable as far as an evenly beating heart and a return of blood to the parts which needed it could make him, Burns spoke to him once more.
His sea-tanned face showed a deeper shade under Leaver's praise. Leaver himself smiled at the averted profile of his friend, and went on, while Ellen looked at him as if he had given her something which money could not buy. "I wish," said John Leaver, laying a firm-knit hand on Burns's knee, "you'd come to Baltimore, Red. Between us we'd do some things pretty well worth doing.
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