human
Dr. Parkman, she said--her voice was low and well controlled--
gpt
I have come to you because I want you to help me.
human
I wonder if you know, she went on, looking at him with a very sweet seriousness,
gpt
Why, yes, he assented,
human
I know that his heart has not been as philosophical as some of his words; but --gently--
gpt
Dr. Parkman, she began abruptly,
human
Why surely you understand that. It is self-evident, is it not? He cannot do his laboratory work because he has lost his eyes.
gpt
Eyes--yes. But the eye is only an instrument; he has not lost his brain.
human
You are asking, intending to ask, why he could not go on, working through some assistant?
gpt
I want to know just what is your idea of why he cannot. All the things of mind and temperament--things which make him Karl--are there as before. Are we not letting a very little thing hold us back?
human
I've thought about it too! he exclaimed.
gpt
Heaven knows I've tried to see it that way. But my conclusion has always been like Karl's: the handicap would be too great.
human
Why?
gpt
Why? Why--because,
human
I'll tell you why! --her eyes deepening.
gpt
I'll tell you the secret of your conclusion. You concluded he could not go on with his work just because no assistant could be in close enough touch with Karl to make clear the things he saw.
human
That's about it,
gpt
You concluded that two men's brains could not work together in close enough harmony for one man's eyes to fit the other man's brain.
human
You put it very clearly,
gpt
Then, doctor, looking a little farther into it, one sees something else. If there were some one close enough to Karl to bring to his brain, through some other medium than eyes, the things the eyes would naturally carry; if there were some one close enough to make things just as plain as though Karl were seeing them himself, then --her voice gathered in intensity--
human
Um--well, yes, if such an impossible thing were possible.
gpt
But it _is_ possible! Oh if I can only make you see this now! Doctor, _don't_ you see it? _I_ am closer to him than any one in the world! _I_ am the one to take up his work!
human
Dr. Parkman, she began--and it seemed now that he had never known her at all before--
gpt
--voice eager, eyes very tender--
human
But--but--
gpt
I know, she hastened--
human
--her smile made it so much clearer than her words--
gpt
But, my dear Mrs. Hubers, he finally began--
human
Yes, --and the tenderness leaped suddenly to passion and the passion intensified to sternness--
gpt
I am simply assuming that it _can_ be done, and through obstacle and argument, from now until the end of my life, I am going on assuming that very thing, and furthermore, Dr. Parkman, --relaxing a little and smiling at him under standingly--
human
--with the deep quiet of finality--