"Can a sunstroke destroy the optic nerve?" he asked at length.
"A mere sunstroke? No," replied the doctor. "But it may be the
occasion. For the cause one must look deeper."
Calder came to a stop, and there was a look of horror in his eyes. "You
mean--one must look to the brain?"
"Yes."
They walked on for a few paces. A further question was in Calder's mind,
but he had some difficulty in speaking it, and when he had spoken he
waited for the answer in suspense.
"Then this calamity is not all. There will be more to follow--death
or--" but that other alternative he could not bring himself to utter.
Here, however, the doctor was able to reassure him.
"No. That does not follow."
Calder went back to the mess-room and called for a brandy-and-soda. He
was more disturbed by the blow which had fallen upon Durrance than he
would have cared to own; and he put the letter upon the table and
thought of the message of renunciation which it contained, and he could
hardly restrain his fingers from tearing it across. It must be sent, he
knew; its destruction would be of no more than a temporary avail. Yet he
could hardly bring himself to post it. With the passage of every minute
he realised more clearly what blindness meant to Durrance.
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