“Arthur.”
1 September
“Am summoned to see my father, who is worse.
Am writing. Write me fully by tonight’s
post to Ring. Wire me if necessary.”
2 September
“My dear old fellow,
“With regard to Miss Westenra’s health
I hasten to let you know at once that in my opinion
there is not any functional disturbance or any malady
that I know of. At the same time, I am not by
any means satisfied with her appearance. She
is woefully different from what she was when I saw
her last. Of course you must bear in mind that
I did not have full opportunity of examination such
as I should wish. Our very friendship makes a
little difficulty which not even medical science or
custom can bridge over. I had better tell you
exactly what happened, leaving you to draw, in a measure,
your own conclusions. I shall then say what
I have done and propose doing.
“I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits.
Her mother was present, and in a few seconds I made
up my mind that she was trying all she knew to mislead
her mother and prevent her from being anxious.
I have no doubt she guesses, if she does not know,
what need of caution there is.
“We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves
to be cheerful, we got, as some kind of reward for
our labours, some real cheerfulness amongst us.
Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and Lucy was
left with me. We went into her boudoir, and till
we got there her gaiety remained, for the servants
were coming and going.
“As soon as the door was closed, however, the
mask fell from her face, and she sank down into a
chair with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her
hand. When I saw that her high spirits had failed,
I at once took advantage of her reaction to make a
diagnosis.
“She said to me very sweetly, ’I cannot
tell you how I loathe talking about myself.’
I reminded her that a doctor’s confidence was
sacred, but that you were grievously anxious about
her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and
settled that matter in a word. ’Tell Arthur
everything you choose. I do not care for myself,
but for him!’ So I am quite free.
“I could easily see that she was somewhat bloodless,
but I could not see the usual anemic signs, and by
the chance, I was able to test the actual quality
of her blood, for in opening a window which was stiff
a cord gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with
broken glass. It was a slight matter in itself,
but it gave me an evident chance, and I secured a
few drops of the blood and have analysed them.
“The qualitative analysis give a quite normal
condition, and shows, I should infer, in itself a
vigorous state of health. In other physical
matters I was quite satisfied that there is no need
for anxiety, but as there must be a cause somewhere,
I have come to the conclusion that it must be something
mental.
