The major was present, and Garrison felt the hot blood surge to his face, as the former's eyes were riveted upon him.
“Youth is a prodigal spendthrift,” put in the major sadly. “But isn't it hereditary, doctor? Perhaps the seed was cultivated, not sown, eh?”
“Assiduously cultivated,” replied Doctor Blandly dryly. “You'll have to get back to first principles, my boy. You've made an oven out of your lungs by cigarette smoke. You inhale? Of course. Quite the correct thing. Have you ever blown tobacco smoke through a handkerchief? Yes? Well, it leaves a dark-brown stain, doesn't it? That's what your lungs are like--coated with nicotine. Your wind is gone. That is why cigarettes are so injurious. Not because, as some people tell you, they are made of inferior tobacco, but because you inhale them. That's where the danger is. Smoke a pipe or cigar, if smoke you must; those you don't inhale. Keep your lungs for what God intended them for--fresh air. Then, your vitality is nearly bankrupt. You've made an old curiosity-shop out of your stomach. You require regular sleep--tons of it----”
“But I'm never sleepy,” argued Garrison, feeling very much like a schoolboy catechised by his master. “When I wake in the morning, I awake instantly, every faculty alert--”
“Naturally,” grunted the old doctor. “Don't you know that is proof positive that you have lived on stimulants? It is artificial. You should be drowsy. I'll wager the first thing you do mornings is to roll a smoke; eh? Exactly. Smoke on an empty stomach! That's got to be stopped. It's the simple life for you. Plenty of exercise in the open air; live, bathe, in sunshine. It is the essence of life. I think, major, we can cure this young prodigal of yours. But he must obey me--implicitly.”
Subsequently, Major Calvert had, for him, a serious conversation with Garrison.
“I believe in youth having its fling,” he said kindly, in conclusion; “but I don't believe in flinging so far that you cannot retrench safely. From Doctor Blandly's statements, you seem to have come mighty near exceeding the speed limit, my boy.”
He bent his white brows and regarded Garrison steadily out of his keen eyes, in which lurked a fund of potential understanding.