There was silence between them for a few moments.
“At this point, I’m willing to try anything. So you think I should send her some medical textbooks?”
“Lee,” Opal said softly. “Why did you become a doctor? When did you first know that you wanted to dedicate your life to medicine?”
He smiled. “When I was nine and Mother was ill. Old Doc Brenner stayed with her for two days and she lived. I knew then that that’s what I wanted to do.”
Opal looked out across her garden for a moment. “When my daughters were eleven, I took them to Pennsylvania to visit my doctor brother, Henry, and his wife, Flo. We had no more than arrived when Flo, Houston, and I came down with a fever. It wasn’t serious, but it kept us in bed and left the care of Blair to the staff. My brother thought she looked lonely, so he invited her to go on his rounds with him.”
Opal paused to smile. “I didn’t learn what went on until days later, when Henry was so excited that he could no longer contain himself. It seems that Blair disobeyed Henry when he told her to stay away from the patients he was treating. The first day, Blair helped her uncle in a difficult, messy birth, keeping her head clear, never panicking, even when the woman began to hemorrhage. By the third day, she was assisting him in an emergency appendectomy performed on a kitchen table. Henry said he’d never seen anyone so suited to medicine as Blair was. It took me a while to get over the shock of the thought of my daughter being a doctor, but when I talked to Blair about it, there was a light in her eyes that I’d never seen before, and I knew that if at all possible I was going to help her become a doctor.”
She paused to sigh. “I hadn’t reckoned on Mr. Gates. When we returned to Chandler, all Blair could talk about was becoming a doctor. Mr. Gates said that no girl under his protection was going to do anything so unladylike. I stood back for a year and watched Blair’s spirit gradually become smothered. I think the final straw was when Mr. Gates forbade the library to loan Blair any more books on the subject of medicine.”
Opal gave a little laugh. “I think that was the only time that I ever stood up to Mr. Gates. Henry and Flo had no children, and they begged me to let Blair come live with them, promising that Henry would take the responsibility of seeing that Blair received the best education money could buy a woman. I didn’t want to see my daughter go, but I knew it was the only way. If she’d stayed here, her spirit would have been broken.”
She turned to Lee. “So you see how much medicine means to Blair. It’s been her entire life since she was just a girl and now—.” She broke off as she pulled an envelope from her pocket. “This came the day before yesterday, from Henry. He sent it to me so I could break the news to Blair as gently as possible. The letter says that even though she qualified to intern at St. Joseph’s, even though she placed first in the three-day-long testing, the Philadelphia City Commissioner has vetoed her placement, because he says it’s an impropriety to have a lady working so closely with men.”
“But that’s—,” Lee burst out.
“Unfair? No more unfair than your asking her to give up medicine and stay home to see that the maid irons your shirts the way you want them.”
Lee looked out at the garden, smoking his cigar, thinking.
“Maybe she’d like to visit a few cases with me in the country. Nothing too difficult, just some routine checks.”
“Yes, I do think she’d like that.” She put her hand on his arm. “And Lee, I think you’ll see a different Blair from the one you’ve seen up ‘til now. Because Blair tends to be a bit outspoken, people sometimes don’t see the size of her heart. If you continue to make Mr.
Hunter look like a fool in front of her, she’ll never forgive you, much less begin to love you. Let her see the Leander this town knows, the one who repeatedly gets out of bed at three o’clock to listen to Mrs. Lechner’s complaints of mysterious pains. And the man who saved Mrs. Saunderson’s twins last summer. And the man who—.”
“All right,” Lee laughed. “I’ll show her that I’m actually a saint in disguise. Do you think she really does know anything about medicine?”
It was Opal’s turn to laugh. “Have you ever heard of Dr. Henry Thomas Blair?”
“The pathologist? Of course. Some of his advances in disease detection have been—.” He stopped. “He’s Uncle Henry?”
Opal’s eyes twinkled in delight. “The same, and Henry says Blair is good, very good. Give her a chance. You won’t be sorry.”
Chapter 10
Blair’s day was not improved by her tennis game with Alan. During her schooling, her uncle had emphasized the importance of exercise. He said that vigorous physical exercise would help improve her ability to think and to study. Therefore, Blair had joined the rowing team, had learned to play tennis with some of the other students, and, when she could, she’d participated in gymnastics, bicycling, and done a little hiking.
She beat Alan at tennis.
Alan was looking distracted as he walked toward the side of the court. Throughout the game, he’d watched over his shoulder, with an expression on his face that showed that he thought someone was going to appear at any moment.
Blair was very annoyed when the game was finished, because she suspected that Alan’s worry about Leander was keeping him from playing well.
“Alan, I almost think you’re afraid of him. So far, we’ve beaten him every time.”
“You have beaten him. I’m useless in this country. Now, if we could meet in a city, perhaps I’d have a chance.”
“Leander has studied all over the world. I’m quite sure he’s as at home in a ballroom as on a horse,” she said as she cleaned off her racquet.
“A Renaissance man?” Alan said archly, an edge to his voice.
Blair looked up at him. “Alan, you look as if you’re angry. You know how I feel about the man.”
“Do I? What I know are the facts, that you went out with him once and ended up spending the night with him, yet when I touch you, you seem to have infinite control.”