Hawkins put out his hand, which the medical student accepted. The grip of the scar-faced youth was soft as velvet, yet hard as iron. His hand was the hand of a trained athlete, with every inch of him in perfect condition. More and more Packard realized that the stranger was uncommon.
“I have just been telling Mr. Packard of you,” said Defarge. “That is, I mentioned you to him. Mr. Packard is a medico.”
“Indeed?” said the stranger, in a voice that was pleasant, yet suggested power. “Why is it that medical students seem prone to indulge in stimulants? Is it because they acquire the habit by taking liquor to brace their nerves before going into the dissecting-room?”
He had looked at Packard with a pair of intensely piercing eyes, and Roland shivered a bit before that deep stare.
“I presume you judge by the decanter here,” said Packard, with a motion toward the table. “Well, your friend Defarge put that there.”
“I judge from your appearance,” said the newcomer frankly. “Your face shows that you drink more than is good for you.”
Packard frowned. He did not fancy being told his failings thus directly by a stranger.
“That is my business,” he said. “I presume I have a right to drink as much as I like!”
“Because any man who has a taste for liquor, and drinks as much as he likes, makes himself troublesome to others in some way, and no man has a right to trouble others unnecessarily. Besides, you set a bad example for other students. Although we may not know it, every one of us does good, or works harm, by our example.”
“What the devil have you here, Defarge?” he cried. “Is this a temperance crank?”
The effect of this speech on the stranger was not discernible, for his scarred face remained strangely inexpressive.
“I am no crank,” he said; “but I simply tell you the truth. Ever since the world began, the man who has dared to tell the truth has been called a crank. Lots of these cranks have suffered and died for their convictions. Many of them were put to death because they believed and preached things which the world soon after accepted as scientific truths.”
Packard gave himself a shake. Surely this was a remarkable chap. All at once Roland seized the decanter and poured out a glass of whisky, which he offered to the scar-faced youth.