No one but
myself."
Mr. Merrick was silent. He looked at Kirke more attentively than ever.
"Strange!" thought the doctor. "He is here, in sole charge of her--and
is this all he knows?"
Kirke saw the doubt in his face; and addressed himself straight to that
doubt, before another word passed between them,
"I see my position here surprises you," he said, simply. "Will you
consider it the position of a relation--the position of her brother or
her father--until her friends can be found?" His voice faltered, and he
laid his hand earnestly on the doctor's arm. "I have taken this trust on
myself," he said; "and as God shall judge me, I will not be unworthy of
it!"
The poor weary head lay on his breast again, the poor fevered fingers
clasped his hand once more, as he spoke those words.
"I believe you," said the doctor, warmly. "I believe you are an honest
man.--Pardon me if I have seemed to intrude myself on your confidence. I
respect your reserve--from this moment it is sacred to me. In justice to
both of us, let me say that the questions I have asked were not prompted
by mere curiosity. No common cause will account for the illness which
has laid my patient on that bed.
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