After dinner, when she had talked a little to all the ladies and had done her duty, Lady Jane caught Katherine’s hand and drew her to a seat beside herself, and then she beckoned to Dr. Burnet, who drew a chair in front of them and sat down, bending forward till his head, Katherine thought, was almost in Lady Jane’s lap. “I want,” she said, “Katherine, to get Dr. Burnet on our side--to make him take up our dear Stella’s interests as you do, my dear, and as in my uninfluential way I should like to do too.”
“How can Dr. Burnet take up Stella’s interests?” cried Katherine, surprised and perhaps a little offended too.
“My dear Katherine, a medical man has the most tremendous opportunities--all that the priest had in old times, and something additional which belongs to himself. He can often say a word when none of the rest of us would dare to do so. I have immense trust in a medical man. He can bring people together that have quarrelled, and--and influence wills, and--do endless things. I always try to have the doctor on my side.”
“Miss Katherine knows,” said Dr. Burnet, trying to lead out of the subject, for Lady Jane’s methods were entirely, on this occasion, too straightforward, “that the medical man in this case is always on her side. Does not Mrs. Swanson, Lady Jane, sing very well? I have never heard her. I am not very musical, but I love a song.”
“Which is a sign that you are not musical. You are like Sir John,” said Lady Jane, as if that was the worst that could be said. “Still, if that is what you mean, Dr. Burnet, you can go and ask her, on my part. He is very much interested in you all, I think, Katherine,” she added when he had departed on this mission. “We had a talk the other day--about you and Stella and the whole matter. I think, if he ever had it in his power, that he would see justice done her, as you would yourself.”
“He is very friendly, I daresay,” said Katherine, “but I can’t imagine how he could ever have anything in his power.”
“There is no telling,” Lady Jane said. “I think he is quite a disinterested man, if any such thing exists. Now, we must be silent a little, for, of course, Mrs. Swanson is going to sing; she is not likely to neglect an opportunity. She has a good voice, so far as that goes, but little training. It is just the thing that pleases Sir John. And he has planted himself between us and the piano, bless him! now we can go on with our talk. Katherine, I don’t think you see how important it is to surround your father with people who think the same as we do about your poor sister.”