There was a weighty professional seriousness about him as he advanced into the room, fixing his spectacles with thumb and forefinger6; an air of confident responsibility. He wasted not a second upon curiosity at the singular group by the bed, but sent his keen direct gaze straight to the patient.
"She's killed herself," was his first thought. "Poison," he murmured aloud, and his gesture was enough to clear the bedside for his own approach.
"No," said a voice close to him. "Not poison-shock."
M. Chatelard looked up quickly, and immediately became aware of a stranger's presence.
"Monsieur?" he exclaimed. He, too, had instantly concluded that the second man in the room must be Bethune. He was shaken into surprise. "In the name of Heaven, who are you?"
"I am her husband, whom she thought dead. I took her by surprise; she fainted."
M. Chatelard formed his lips for a noiseless whistle. Affairs, at one bound, had complicated themselves with a vengeance8. Incredibly interesting! ... But the emergency claimed him. He bent9 over the bed, and there was silence all through the room.
Even Sir Arthur, recalled from his undignified attitude, was stilled; not so much indeed from the sense that a human life was trembling in the balance, but from the demands which the presence of a new witness made upon decorum.
The doctor raised himself and held out his hand.
"A candle," he said briefly10.
It was given to him, and again the silence reigned11.
M. Chatelard, with deft12 and gentle touch, lifted the heavy eyelid13, passed the flame before it, and peered for some seconds into the fixed14 pupil, abnormally dilated15. Then he handed back the light. Harry16 English took it, and held it aloft while the doctor once more consulted pulse and heart.
Muttering that he would never travel without his stethescope again, M. Chatelard laid his cropped head on the fair bosom17. Again the seconds ticked by with nightmare slowness. The brown hand that held the candle was shaken with slight tremor18. At last M. Chatelard straightened himself with the final air of one who pronounces a verdict.
"This is no mere19 syncope," he said. "This is brain trouble. Shock, as you said, sir," with a grave inclination20 of his head towards Captain English.
Old Mary, back from her errand, here proffered21 some brandy in a glass.
"What is that?" cried the physician, sharply. "Brandy," he said, sniffing22. "Heaven preserve us, 'tis well I am here! Above all things she must not be roused. Mon cher Monsieur," he went on, turning again to Harry English, "here all our efforts must be to help nature, not to oppose her. Let all those lights be extinguished," he added authoritatively23. "We must have darkness and quiet. How come all these people in the room?" He spoke24 with the doctor's immediate7 irritation25 at surroundings injurious to his patient.
There are situations passing the endurance of human nature, especially when it is the human nature of a person of high political importance. Here was M. Chatelard actually addressing yonder infernal interloper as the leading person!
"I call you to witness, M. Chatelard," Sir Arthur cried excitedly, "that this is some conspiracy26 that I by no means acknowledge——"
Old Mary interposed, subdued27 yet urgent.
"Oh, sir, it is indeed my master!"
"Hush28, Arty, come away now!" whispered Lady Aspasia; and once more clasped his elbow with strong sensible hand. "There will be plenty of time for all this by-and-by."
"Unless you want to kill her altogether, Sir Gerardine," said Dr. Chatelard, gravely, "you will make no scenes here."
Harry English stood sentinel by his wife's bed, disdaining29 speech.
"Unless you want to kill her," had said the doctor. As the words had been spoken Sir Arthur looked quickly at her whom he had called wife. "Better she should die," thought he. The whole measure of his love for the woman in whose beauty he had gloried was in that mean thought. Better she should die, since her existence was no longer an honour but a shame to him, Sir Arthur. He had loved her as part of himself; no longer his, what was she to him? Nothing more than the amputated limb to its owner, a thing to hide out of sight with all speed, a thing to bury away.
"I beg of you again," resumed Dr. Chatelard, in tones of restrained impatience30; "I can have no one remain."
A couple of servant girls, who stood huddled31 whispering in their corner, slid away one after the other.
Lady Aspasia, by some moral force and a good deal of muscular pressure, succeeded in dragging the protesting Sir Arthur in their wake. The doctor looked at old Mary—she dropped her curtsey.
"I might be of use, sir."
He considered her a second in silence.
"You may stay," he said.
"And I?" said Aspasia, her pallid32 tear-stained face was thrust pleadingly forward.
"You will do better to go, my child," said the Frenchman, paternally33.
"Doctor ... she will not die?"
"Assuredly not this night at least," he replied, evasive yet consoling. From the door she flung back a piteous look at English, and once again his eyes answered her: "She will not die."
Harry English took the last unextinguished candle and laid it on the floor. Outside, the yellow grey dawn was breaking.
"I want hot bottles," ordered Dr. Chatelard of Mary; and when she had left the room, he turned to the strange man who had called himself Lady Gerardine's husband.
"You, too, sir," he said. "You must leave us."
Harry English started. For the first time, that evening, discomposure laid hold of him.
"I? ... but I cannot go. She will want me."
"My dear sir," said the other, his tone softening34 into compassion35 (here was one who loved as few love, or he knew not how to read countenances), "this affair is very strange, but I, as doctor, am here to judge of nothing but the good of my patient. She has had a shock, and the shock has been caused by you. I repeat, all I can do here is to aid nature—nature demands repose37. She is as one who has had concussion38 of the brain. That brain must rest. Call her back to thought, you may call her to death."
"I would sit in a corner of the room—she would not know."
"Ah," said the doctor, "one never can tell. That is a fallacy I have long since seen through. So long as the soul is there, my dear sir, many things take place inside the body that we know naught39 of."
Then Harry English submitted. He went forth40 with bent head.... He who had waited so long! lint41, even as Aspasia had done, he halted to question:
"If she comes to consciousness?"
"She will not come to consciousness, perhaps, for days."
"If she wants me——?"
"My dear sir—immediately, of course."
"When she comes to consciousness, will she——"
"Ah," interrupted the doctor, "who knows? We may have brain trouble—an illness we will surely have."
Then Harry English, who had so confidently said she would not die, looked at the other mutely inquiring yet further.
"Ah, my dear sir," said the Frenchman in his quick apprehension42, and shrugged43 his shoulder. Then he added, compassionately44, turning his head towards the bed:
"She is young."
Harry English closed the door and sat down in the dark passage, cross-legged after the habit that had grown second nature, and there remained. Waiting.
Suddenly he rose to his feet again; he had heard the handle of the door click. M. Chatelard stood on the threshold.
"The Indian woman," he whispered, "she makes a noise. She must go."
Jani, crouching45 in a hidden corner within, had set up a moaning. The sound of her wail46 caught Harry English's ear: a creeping chill passed over him; that Eastern lament47 that had nothing human in its note, but was as the despair of the animal that mourns without understanding, how familiar it was to his ear! So did the women there, over seas, wail only over death. He, who had held himself in such strength hitherto, was shaken to his soul. He could not form the words that rose to his lips.
"You know how to deal with these persons," pursued the Frenchman, absorbed in his thoughts, and in the dusk unable to read the other's countenance36, "I beg you to remove her at once. But, chut, chut, attention, please, not to disturb my patient!"
English drew his breath sharply. Had he been of those who weep, he might have burst into tears then. It is the instant of relief that catches the strong-fighting soul unawares. He clenched48 his hands till the nails ran into the palm, and followed the doctor on noiseless feet into the room.
One glance at the bed! It was all in shadow; but even in the deliberate dimness there was evidence that a practised hand had already been at work. He could see that his wife had been settled among her pillows with care. The white of a bandage lay across her brow. A screen was set between the bed and the banked-up fire. Old Mary was seated in a high chair, within the glow, composed and watchful49, the very picture of what a nurse should be. The light of the shaded candle illumined but one thing—the white hand that hung slightly over the edge of the bed; it scintillated50 back from the gems51 of the ring that guarded the narrow wedding circlet. His rings!
M. Chatelard pulled him by the sleeve. Harry English turned sharply. He had told Sir Arthur "that his place was not here," and must now realise in his turn that neither was his place here. There was bitterness and anger in his eyes as he bent over the ayah.
She looked up at him, terror on her face. He pointed52 to the passage, and she crawled out, on hands and knees, whimpering to herself like a dog. Without another glance towards Rosamond, Harry retired53 also, and closed the door behind him. Old Mary followed him with her eyes, and folded her hands; her lips moved as if in prayer.
* * * * *
In the passage Jani dragged herself towards her old master, and clutching his ankles, laid her head upon his feet.
"Sahib!" ...
Harry looked down at her a moment, without speaking. So intense was the bitterness that welled up within him, even towards this poor wretch54, that he was ashamed of it. Thus, when he spoke, it was with an added gentleness.
"Ah, Jani," he said, "you knew me, here, from the beginning." ...
This miserable55 pawn56 on the chess-board of life, had she not worked against him, how different all might now have been!
Jani once more lifted her face. In the livid dawn it looked grey with fear. Then she was gone from him with a scarcely perceptible rustle57, a whisper of soft garments, like some stealthy-winged thing of the night. Harry English sank back into his squatting58 attitude; to wait again. Never had fate so completely veiled her countenance from him.
Years he had endured. He had clung tenaciously59 to life, had borne, at the moment of hope renewed, the cruellest and most insulting buffet60 that could strike a man, and still had fought, still had held to a determined61 purpose. Had it all been to this hour only?—false servant, failing friend, lost wife! No, not lost. So long as the faintest breath flickered62 between those silent smiling lips.
* * * * *
Harry English turned to God, with a great cry of his soul. It was no cry of supplication63, but a call upon the Infinity64. Because of Power, because of Justice, because of Goodness, she must not die.
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1
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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raconteur
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| n.善讲故事者 | |
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forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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7
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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8
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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10
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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eyelid
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| n.眼睑，眼皮 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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15
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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21
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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23
authoritatively
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| 命令式地，有权威地，可信地 | |
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24
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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25
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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26
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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27
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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28
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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29
disdaining
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| 鄙视( disdain的现在分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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30
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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31
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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32
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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paternally
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| adv.父亲似地；父亲一般地 | |
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34
softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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38
concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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39
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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40
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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41
lint
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| n.线头；绷带用麻布，皮棉 | |
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42
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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43
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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44
compassionately
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| adv.表示怜悯地，有同情心地 | |
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45
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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46
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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47
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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48
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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50
scintillated
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| v.（言谈举止中）焕发才智( scintillate的过去式和过去分词 )；谈笑洒脱；闪耀；闪烁 | |
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51
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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52
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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53
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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54
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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55
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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56
pawn
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| n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押 | |
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57
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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58
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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59
tenaciously
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| 坚持地 | |
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60
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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61
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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62
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
supplication
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| n.恳求，祈愿，哀求 | |
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64
infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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