attack to his own advantage, she had no intention of showing him anything other than a formal superiority. Charles, she recalled , had supposed that Carstairs had genuinely wished to begin divorce proceedings and had only been dissuaded by her husband ’s bribery. Now it seemed that the doctor had merely given this impression to extort money. She said harshly:
‘ You may be ready to tolerate ignominy and humiliation, Dr Carstairs, I am not.’
‘I envy your security, but my own freedom is circumscribed. If I bring an action against your husband, I endanger my livelihood . The rich entrust their souls to a parson and their bodies to a physician, and from both they expect unimpeachable domestic lives. Like a sensible tradesman, I must provide what my customers desire, and never disappoint them for quixotic personal considerations.’ He opened a black instrument case and held up a small scalpel. He caught her concealed alarm and smiled. ‘If my morality is not as bright and spotless as this knife, I might as well turn it on myself.’ He made a feint with it towards his throat, making her raise both hands to her mouth. Then he replaced it carefully in its proper compartment. ‘I might take physical measures to prevent my wife seeing your husband, but then I would run the risk of her eloping. Lord Goodchild, I daresay, has adequate means to place her in a villa and to supply her other needs. This would be as detrimental to my professional interests as any “crim con” proceedings. I prefer what you call humiliation to ruin.’
Helen was angry with herself for showing her fear when he had taken out the scalpel, and was also mortified not to have disposed of the argument, to which he had just treated her, before he could use it.
‘You are being less than honest with me, sir. My husband is buying your silence.’
The scorn in her voice stung him into replying with a raised voice:
‘I must contradict that. Your husband’s sensuality could end my career. He owes me compensation.’
She shot him a glance of disdainful incredulity and said with an impatient toss of the head:
‘Lord Goodchild would never pay a man a farthing as charity … compensation – call it what you will – unless he believed himself forced to it to prevent public scandal.’
‘I am sure he would suffer far less than I in such an event.’
‘You are evidently unfamiliar with men of my husband’s standing. He would never consider a provincial doctor’s inconveniences anything but trifling when set beside his own. A king who falls from a mountain feels little sympathy for a peasant who stumbles from a mole-hill.’
‘Is that your ladyship’s view?’ asked Carstairs with a wry smile at the arrogance of her comparison.
‘You give me small credit for thought, doctor. I understand very well that a landowner needs no public approval to keep his land, but a physician must have it to retain his patients.’
Carstairs nodded with grateful approval.
‘I am glad your ladyship understands my reluctance to act.’
‘Certainly I understand it, but I think you are entirely mistaken in supposing that Lord Goodchild will never realise it too. His payments will cease but not his attentions to your wife. You would do better to tell him you intend to bring an action.’
‘And if he still sees Mrs Carstairs and refuses to believe I am in earnest?’
‘Why, bring your action, of course,’ she replied as if amazed by his obtuseness. She gave him a smile of sympathetic encouragement . ‘Your fears are groundless. Will anyone think less of you for refusing to be humiliated by an aristocratic philanderer? People will admire your pluck rather than deride you – you deserve their derision now. Manufacturers, I believe, have little love for landowners. You will gain more patients than you lose, and the scandal-lovers and tuft-hunters will beg to be treated by the man whose wife was once the object of a peer’s amorous attentions .’
‘My lady is
‘ You may be ready to tolerate ignominy and humiliation, Dr Carstairs, I am not.’
‘I envy your security, but my own freedom is circumscribed. If I bring an action against your husband, I endanger my livelihood . The rich entrust their souls to a parson and their bodies to a physician, and from both they expect unimpeachable domestic lives. Like a sensible tradesman, I must provide what my customers desire, and never disappoint them for quixotic personal considerations.’ He opened a black instrument case and held up a small scalpel. He caught her concealed alarm and smiled. ‘If my morality is not as bright and spotless as this knife, I might as well turn it on myself.’ He made a feint with it towards his throat, making her raise both hands to her mouth. Then he replaced it carefully in its proper compartment. ‘I might take physical measures to prevent my wife seeing your husband, but then I would run the risk of her eloping. Lord Goodchild, I daresay, has adequate means to place her in a villa and to supply her other needs. This would be as detrimental to my professional interests as any “crim con” proceedings. I prefer what you call humiliation to ruin.’
Helen was angry with herself for showing her fear when he had taken out the scalpel, and was also mortified not to have disposed of the argument, to which he had just treated her, before he could use it.
‘You are being less than honest with me, sir. My husband is buying your silence.’
The scorn in her voice stung him into replying with a raised voice:
‘I must contradict that. Your husband’s sensuality could end my career. He owes me compensation.’
She shot him a glance of disdainful incredulity and said with an impatient toss of the head:
‘Lord Goodchild would never pay a man a farthing as charity … compensation – call it what you will – unless he believed himself forced to it to prevent public scandal.’
‘I am sure he would suffer far less than I in such an event.’
‘You are evidently unfamiliar with men of my husband’s standing. He would never consider a provincial doctor’s inconveniences anything but trifling when set beside his own. A king who falls from a mountain feels little sympathy for a peasant who stumbles from a mole-hill.’
‘Is that your ladyship’s view?’ asked Carstairs with a wry smile at the arrogance of her comparison.
‘You give me small credit for thought, doctor. I understand very well that a landowner needs no public approval to keep his land, but a physician must have it to retain his patients.’
Carstairs nodded with grateful approval.
‘I am glad your ladyship understands my reluctance to act.’
‘Certainly I understand it, but I think you are entirely mistaken in supposing that Lord Goodchild will never realise it too. His payments will cease but not his attentions to your wife. You would do better to tell him you intend to bring an action.’
‘And if he still sees Mrs Carstairs and refuses to believe I am in earnest?’
‘Why, bring your action, of course,’ she replied as if amazed by his obtuseness. She gave him a smile of sympathetic encouragement . ‘Your fears are groundless. Will anyone think less of you for refusing to be humiliated by an aristocratic philanderer? People will admire your pluck rather than deride you – you deserve their derision now. Manufacturers, I believe, have little love for landowners. You will gain more patients than you lose, and the scandal-lovers and tuft-hunters will beg to be treated by the man whose wife was once the object of a peer’s amorous attentions .’
‘My lady is
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