"
There was no help for it but to yield again--for the moment only, as
before. Any open assertion of the infinitely superior importance of such
a ministry as mine, compared with the ministry of the medical man, would
only have provoked the doctor to practise on the human weakness of his
patient, and to threaten to throw up the case. Happily, there are more
ways than one of sowing the good seed, and few persons are better versed
in those ways than myself.
"You might feel stronger, dear, in an hour or two," I said. "Or you
might wake, to-morrow morning, with a sense of something wanting, and
even this unpretending volume might be able to supply it. You will let
me leave the book, aunt? The doctor can hardly object to that!"
I slipped it under the sofa cushions, half in, and half out, close by
her handkerchief, and her smelling-bottle. Every time her hand searched
for either of these, it would touch the book; and, sooner or later
(who knows?) the book might touch HER. After making this arrangement, I
thought it wise to withdraw. "Let me leave you to repose, dear aunt; I
will call again to-morrow." I looked accidentally towards the window as
I said that.
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