How long would he be chained to her; and she to him, and what would be the consequence of the mysterious relation which must necessarily spring up between a man like him, in the plenitude of vital force, of strongly attractive personality, and a young girl organized for victory over the calmest blood and the steadiest resistance?
Every day after this made matters worse.

There was something almost partaking of the miraculous in the influence he was acquiring over her.
His "Peace, be still!" was obeyed by the stormy elements of this young soul, as if it had been a supernatural command.

How could he resist the dictate of humanity which called him to make his visits more frequent, that her intervals of rest might be more numerous?
How could he refuse to sit at her bedside for a while in the evening, that she might be quieted, instead of beginning the night sleepless and agitated?
The Doctor was a man of refined feeling as well as of principle, and he had besides a sacred memory in the deepest heart of his affections.

It was the common belief in the village that he would never marry again, but that his first and only love was buried in the grave of the wife of his youth.

It did not easily occur to him to suspect himself of any weakness with regard to this patient of his, little more than a child in years.