The Tender Vine (Diamond of the Rockies #3)(49)

Carina clasped it briefly. “I’m Carina DiGratia Shepard.”

“Charmed to make your acquaintance.” Miss Preston glanced at Quillan, but Carina didn’t introduce him. He didn’t want to talk. She could sense the storm inside him. In a different mood he would rise and introduce himself, at least attend the conversation for politeness’ sake. Not in his current frame of mind; at least that’s what his scowl said.

Miss Preston seemed to realize he wasn’t going to look her way. “I’m traveling with my aunt to San Francisco.”

“My husband and I are going to my home in Sonoma Valley. To my family.”

“I’m traveling to a relative, as well.” Priscilla brushed at the dust on her sleeve. “Now that Father’s gone, I have only Aunt Prudence and a cousin I detest. It’s unfortunately to him that we’re bound. He’s dreadfully dull. Is your family dull?”

Carina raised her brows. Even if she detested a member of her family, she would not tell a stranger such. “No. My family could never be called dull. Numbers alone would prevent that: parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, some so distantly related I don’t believe they really are.” She smiled. “My papa is a great man. Everyone wants to be family to Angelo Pasquale DiGratia.”

Priscilla’s lips parted, showing two front teeth turned out like a couple on promenade, the other teeth crowded close behind. “My father was a doctor.”

Carina clapped her hands together. “Mine is as well!”

“Really?” Priscilla put her fingers to her cheek. “Father’s practice was phrenology. Are you familiar with it?”

Carina bit her lip, searching the things Papa had discussed with her. “It seems . . . did it have to do with the mind?”

“The brain and the skull—certain organs in the brain compelling behaviors, identifiable by physical characteristics.” Again she glanced at Quillan. “Father often lectured on Dr. Gall’s methodology. He could look at a person on the street and tell you his inclinations and temperament, as well as physical weaknesses and strengths. It’s scarcely disputed anywhere now. But, of course, not many are well versed in it.”

Carina didn’t think Papa was. At least he didn’t treat anyone according to that science as far as she knew. He treated what he saw in the body. But it was interesting to think you could tell one’s inclinations just by looking. “What characteristics did he look for?”

“May I?” Priscilla waved at the edge of Quillan’s seat, then sat daintily when Carina nodded. If Quillan objected, he could have said so. As long as he was being silent and withdrawn, she may as well converse with someone else.

“Well, you see, once you know where certain organs are located, you can tell by the bumps of the head the strengths and weaknesses in character. For instance, just above the external opening of the ear and extending a little forward and backward above the upper flap of the ear is the organ of destructiveness. If the organ is large, the opening of the ear is depressed. Such a person has the impulse to kill and destroy.” Her eyelids fluttered quickly with the words. “A small endowment there causes a soft character. Combativeness is right about here.” She touched the side of her head. “Hindus are especially lacking in that organ.”

Carina had certainly not heard this before. If Papa was versed in phrenology, it was not something he discussed. She folded her hands across her knee. “Tell me more.”

“In the back of the head is the organ responsible for philoprogenitiveness.” “Philo—”

“A love of one’s offspring. It causes the bulge in the skull for those well endowed. People with flat perpendicular heads are annoyed, rather than delighted, by children.”

Carina noticed Priscilla’s flat head partly disguised by the wrapping of her thin blond hair. Did that mean she disdained children? How strange to think you knew someone by the shape of her head. She glanced at Quillan. If he heard the conversation he showed no sign.

Miss Preston was still talking. “Beneath the posterior edge of the parietal bone is found adhesiveness, the faculty which prompts—”

“Wait now.” Carina waved her hand. “How do they know what’s in the brain beneath the skull?”

“By studying the brain, of course. As I was saying, that’s where you’ll find the faculty of adhesiveness, the desire to embrace, to find joy in friendship and constancy in marriage.”

Carina said, “What does it look like?”

Priscilla paused. “Well, I can’t exactly say. It took years for Father to develop his expertise. I only understand the idea and recognize some of the more outstanding characteristics.”

Carina sat back. Was there validity in this woman’s suppositions?

Priscilla shrugged. “How else do you account for the differences in types?”

“What types do you mean?” And now Carina was curious again. She was sure Papa had not spoken in such terms.

“Why the bilious, the nervous, sanguine, and lymphatic. Doesn’t your father gauge his treatments by these temperaments?”

“I don’t know.”

“Surely he must if he’s any kind of reputable doctor.” She took a scented handkerchief from her pocket and sniffed daintily, then dabbed her throat. “The four types were identified years ago. But Dr. Bell’s phrenology was the key, you see.”