Page:Hilda Wade (1900).pdf/44

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THE PATIENT WHO DISAPPOINTED HER DOCTOR
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spot, 'the anæsthetic, you know! Such a triumph for lethodyne! This case shows clearly that on certain constitutions it may be used with advantage under certain conditions.'

He snapped his fingers. 'Lethodyne! pooh! I have lost interest in it. Impracticable! It is not fitted for the human species.'

'Why so? Number Fourteen proves———'

He interrupted me with an impatient wave of his hand: then he rose and paced up and down the room testily. After a pause he spoke again. 'The weak point of lethodyne is this: nobody can be trusted to say when it may be used—except Nurse Wade. Which is not science.'

For the first time in my life, I had a glimmering idea that I distrusted Sebastian. Hilda Wade was right—the man was cruel. But I had never observed his cruelty before—because his devotion to science had blinded me to it.

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