"They all seem
very impatient, though I cannot see why."
"I think so, Dr. Pemberton."
"Well, then, notify Mr. Bainrothe to make ready for you in the library
at any hour you may fix upon. He was your father's attorney, it seems,
and had the will in his keeping. Of course it will be a very simple
matter to carry out its provisions, since all was fixed before, as every
one knows, but there may be some little agitation. Now, don't give way,
I charge you."
"How can I help it. Dr. Pemberton?"
"Oh, with a will like yours, one can do a great deal. I had an obstinate
patient once determined not to die, and she did not die, though death
was due. Resistance is natural to some temperaments. Yours is one of
them. Fight off those attacks, Miriam, in future."
"I will try," I said, half amused at his suggestion, "but, if all
physicians gave such prescriptions, medicine would be at a discount."
"Not at all. Medicine is a great aid in any case--I have never thought
it more. A doctor is only a pilot; he steers a ship sometimes past
dangerous places on which it would founder otherwise, but he never
pretends, unless he is a charlatan, to upheave shoals and rocks, or to
control tempests. He can only mind his rudder and shift his sails; the
rest is with Providence. Now, suppose the captain of this ship is calm
and firm, and coincides with the pilot's efforts, instead of
counteracting and embarrassing them.
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