Chapter XIII

Miss Rodney’s face was pale with emotion and anxiety. She hung eagerly upon Dr. Anthony’s words.

“A mysterious thing,” he repeated. “I was closing my office at eleven o’clock that night, preparatory to going home, when, in the darkness, a stranger touched me upon the shoulder and said, in a muffled voice:

“‘Come with me at once, doctor. A lady needs your professional services.’

“I am so used to being called out at night, Miss Rodney, that at first I thought nothing of the request. I have ridden miles and miles on the darkest nights through the peaceful country neighborhood hereabouts without fear or molestation. So I said, carelessly to the man, whose face I did not see clearly by reason of the extreme darkness: ‘Is it a long distance? If not, I will walk, as my horse has been put away for the night.’

“‘A matter of two miles or more,’ he answered, in the same low, muffled voice in which he had first addressed me. ‘But my buggy is here at the corner. Come with me and I will send you back. We have no time to lose.’

“So careless and fearless had I become in my career as a physician, that I felt no alarm at his proposition. I carelessly assented, and accompanied him to the corner, where I found a fine horse and buggy waiting for us as he had said. He sprung in and he drove rapidly to the outskirts of the town, when I, being weary of the silence maintained by my companion, inquired the name of the person I was called to attend.

“To my surprise, the man replied in a cool, quiet voice, as if there were nothing strange in what he was saying:

“‘That is a secret, Dr. Anthony, and must remain so.’

“Nothing like this had ever occurred to me in my professional experience. I was indignant at this answer. I did not choose to bestow my medical skill upon a patient who thus withheld confidence from me. I told him so rather hotly.

“My companion, who was evidently a gentleman, laughed easily.

“‘Tut, tut,’ he said, ‘all physicians can relate instances of mysterious cases.’ This was one of them. My services were needed, and no harm would befall me, while at the same time I should be most liberally rewarded, but the lady’s name must remain unknown to me, as also the place of her residence. ‘For which reason, doctor,’ he continued, in the same cool, quiet, gentlemanly voice, and producing a large handkerchief, ‘I shall be compelled to blindfold you for the balance of the distance.’

“His cool masterful tone irritated me exceedingly. I answered quickly that I would not submit to such terms--that he must employ other advice for the case; I would not attend.

“‘I will have nothing to do with a mystery,’ I said. ‘All must be fair and open, or I will not attend.’

“He laughed at first, and tried to persuade me; but, finding that I was resolute, and insisted on being let out of the buggy, he became angry.

“‘Your unreasonable mood forces me to a rash alternative,’ he said. ‘I am obliged to compel your obedience.’

“I felt the cold muzzle of a pistol pressed against my cheek. I was myself unarmed and powerless.

“‘Attempt to get out, and you are a dead man!’ he said. ‘You have no resource but to obey me. If you are a wise man, you will permit me to tie this bandage over your eyes, and to go on without further parley.’

“I am not a coward, Miss Rodney--I hope you will not form that opinion of me,” continued the handsome young physician, “but I flatter myself that I possess a modicum of common-sense. I found myself in the power of a desperate man, and I considered that my best plan would be to yield to his will; besides, there was a spice of romance in the affair that appealed to the imaginative part of me. I made a virtue of necessity, and accompanied my stern companion, though I must confess that my anger rose when he bound the handkerchief about my unwilling eyes. The darkness of the night was so dense that he might have spared me that inconvenience.”

Effie listened, with her heart upon her lips, for him to come to the story of the mysterious patient. It was Aline, of course--Aline, ill or dying! How terrible it seemed! It cast a strange, new light upon the mystery of her disappearance.

“I went with him; but I am quite sure that he deceived me regarding the distance,” said Dr. Anthony. “Instead of being two miles, I am certain that we drove five, at least, before his fleet-footed horse came to a stop. Then I was helped from the buggy, and led up a flight of what seemed, from the sound of my feet upon them, to be wide, marble steps.”