The poor woman was standing3 where we had left her; but her whole figure showed languor4, and she more than leaned against the bedpost behind her. As I looked up from the tray and met her eyes, she shuddered5 and seemed to be endeavoring to understand who I was and what I was doing in her room. My premonitions in regard to her were well based. She was in a raging fever, and was already more than half oblivious6 to her surroundings.
Approaching her, I spoke7 as gently as I could, for her hapless condition appealed to me in spite of my well founded prejudices against her; and seeing she was growing incapable8 of response, I drew her up on the bed and began to undress her.
I half expected her to recoil9 at this, or at least to make some show of alarm, but she submitted to my ministrations almost gratefully, and neither shrank nor[Pg 245] questioned me till I laid my hands upon her shoes. Then indeed she quivered, and drew her feet away with such an appearance of terror that I was forced to desist from my efforts or drive her into violent delirium10.
This satisfied me that Louise Van Burnam lay before me. The scar concerning which so much had been said in the papers would be ever present in the thoughts of this woman as the tell-tale mark by which she might be known, and though at this moment she was on the borders of unconsciousness, the instinct of self-preservation still remained in sufficient force to prompt her to make this effort to protect herself from discovery.
I had told Miss Althorpe that my chief reason for intruding11 upon Miss Oliver, was to determine if she had in her possession certain rings supposed to have been taken from a friend of mine; and while this was in a measure true—the rings being an important factor in the proof I was accumulating against her,—I was not so anxious to search for them at this time as to find the scar which would settle at once the question of her identity.
When she drew her foot away from me then, so violently, I saw that I needed to search no farther for the evidence required, and could give myself up to making her comfortable. So I bathed her temples, now throbbing12 with heat, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing her fall into a deep and uneasy slumber13. Then I tried again to draw off her shoes, but the start she gave and the smothered14 cry which escaped her warned me that I must wait yet longer before satisfying my curiosity; so I desisted at once, and out of pure compassion15 left her to get what good she might from the lethargy into which she had fallen.[Pg 246]
Being hungry, or at least feeling the necessity of some slight aliment to help me sustain the fatigues16 of the night, I sat down now at the table and partook of some of the dainties with which Miss Althorpe had kindly17 provided me. After which I made out a list of such articles as were necessary to my proper care of the patient who had so strangely fallen into my hands, and then, feeling that I had a right at last to indulge in pure curiosity, I turned my attention to the clothing I had taken from the self-styled Miss Oliver.
The dress was a simple gray one, and the skirts and underclothing all white. But the latter was of the finest texture18, and convinced me, before I had given them more than a glance, that they were the property of Howard Van Burnam's wife. For, besides the exquisite19 quality of the material, there were to be seen, on the edges of the bands and sleeves, the marks of stitches and clinging threads of lace, where the trimming had been torn off, and in one article especially, there were tucks such as you see come from the hands of French needlewomen only.
This, taken with what had gone before, was proof enough to satisfy me that I was on the right track, and after Crescenze had come and gone with the tray and all was quiet in this remote part of the house, I ventured to open a closet door at the foot of the bed. A brown silk skirt was hanging within, and in the pocket of that skirt I found a purse so gay and costly20 that all doubt vanished as to its being the property of Howard's luxurious21 wife.
There were several bills in this purse, amounting to about fifteen dollars in money, but no change and no memoranda22, which latter seemed a pity. Restoring[Pg 247] the purse to its place and the skirt to its peg23, I came softly back to the bedside and examined my patient still more carefully than I had done before. She was asleep and breathing heavily, but even with this disadvantage her face had its own attraction, an attraction which evidently had more or less influenced men, and which, for the reason perhaps that I have something masculine in my nature, I discovered to be more or less influencing me, notwithstanding my hatred24 of an intriguing25 character.
However, it was not her beauty I came to study, but her hair, her complexion26, and her hands. The former was brown, the brown of that same lock I remembered to have seen in the jury's hands at the inquest; and her skin, where fever had not flushed it, was white and smooth. So were her hands, and yet they were not a lady's hands. That I noticed when I first saw her. The marks of the rings she no longer wore, were not enough to blind me to the fact that her fingers lacked the distinctive27 shape and nicety of Miss Althorpe's, say, or even of the Misses Van Burnam; and though I do not object to this, for I like strong-looking, capable hands myself, they served to help me understand the face, which otherwise would have looked too spiritual for a woman of the peevish28 and self-satisfied character of Louise Van Burnam. On this innocent and appealing expression she had traded in her short and none too happy career. And as I noted29 it, I recalled a sentence in Miss Ferguson's testimony30, in which she alluded31 to Mrs. Van Burnam's confidential32 remark to her husband upon the power she exercised over people when she raised her eyes in entreaty33 towards them. "Am I not pretty," she had said, "when I am in distress[Pg 248] and looking up in this way?" It was the suggestion of a scheming woman, but from what I had seen and was seeing of the woman before me, I could imagine the picture she would thus make, and I do not think she overrated its effects.
Withdrawing from her side once more, I made a tour of the room. Nothing escaped my eyes; nothing was too small to engage my attention. But while I failed to see anything calculated to shake my confidence in the conclusions I had come to, I saw but little to confirm them. This was not strange; for, apart from a few toilet articles and some knitting-work on a shelf, she appeared to have no belongings34; everything else in sight being manifestly the property of Miss Althorpe. Even the bureau drawers were empty, and her bag, found under a small table, had not so much in it as a hair-pin, though I searched it inside and out for her rings, which I was positive she had with her, even if she dared not wear them.
When every spot was exhausted35 I sat down and began to brood over what lay before this poor being, whose flight and the great efforts she made at concealment36 proved only too conclusively37 the fatal part she had played in the crime for which her husband had been arrested. I had reached her arraignment38 before a magistrate39, and was already imagining her face with the appeal in it which such an occasion would call forth40, when there came a low knock at the door, and Miss Althorpe re-entered.
She had just said good-night to her lover, and her face recalled to me a time when my own cheek was round and my eye was bright and—Well! what is the use of dwelling41 on matters so long buried in oblivion![Pg 249] A maiden-woman, as independent as myself, need not envy any girl the doubtful blessing42 of a husband. I chose to be independent, and I am, and what more is there to be said about it? Pardon the digression.
"Is Miss Oliver any better?" asked Miss Althorpe; "and have you found——"
I put up my finger in warning. Of all things, it was most necessary that the sick woman should not know my real reason for being there.
"She is asleep," I answered quietly, "and I think I have found out what is the matter with her."
Miss Althorpe seemed to understand. She cast a look of solicitude43 towards the bed and then turned towards me.
"I cannot rest," said she, "and will sit with you for a little while, if you don't mind."
I felt the implied compliment keenly.
"You can do me no greater favor," I returned.
She drew up an easy-chair. "That is for you," she smiled, and sat down in a little low rocker at my side.
But she did not talk. Her thoughts seemed to have recurred44 to some very near and sweet memory, for she smiled softly to herself and looked so deeply happy that I could not resist saying:
"These are delightful45 days for you, Miss Althorpe."
She sighed softly—how much a sigh can reveal!—and looked up at me brightly. I think she was glad I spoke. Even such reserved natures as hers have their moments of weakness, and she had no mother or sister to appeal to.
"Yes," she replied, "I am very happy; happier than most girls are, I think, just before marriage. It is such a revelation to me—this devotion and admiration[Pg 250] from one I love. I have had so little of it in my life. My father——"
She stopped; I knew why she stopped. I gave her a look of encouragement.
"People have always been anxious for my happiness, and have warned me against matrimony since I was old enough to know the difference between poverty and wealth. Before I was out of short dresses I was warned against fortune-seekers. It was not good advice; it has stood in the way of my happiness all my life, made me distrustful and unnaturally46 reserved. But now—ah, Miss Butterworth, Mr. Stone is so estimable a man, so brilliant and so universally admired, that all my doubts of manly47 worth and disinterestedness48 have disappeared as if by magic. I trust him implicitly49, and—Do I talk too freely? Do you object to such confidences as these?"
"On the contrary," I answered. I liked Miss Althorpe so much and agreed with her so thoroughly50 in her opinion of this man, that it was a real pleasure to me to hear her speak so unreservedly.
"We are not a foolish couple," she went on, warming with the charm of her topic till she looked beautiful in the half light thrown upon her by the shaded lamp. "We are interested in people and things, and get half our delight from the perfect congeniality of our natures. Mr. Stone has given up his club and all his bachelor pursuits since he knew me, and——"
O love, if at any time in my life I have despised thee, I did not despise thee then! The look with which she finished this sentence would have moved a cynic.
"Forgive me," she prayed. "It is the first time I have poured out my heart to any one of my own sex.[Pg 251] It must sound strange to you, but it seemed natural while I was doing it, for you looked as if you could understand."
This to me, to me, Amelia Butterworth, of whom men have said I had no more sentiment than a wooden image. I looked my appreciation51, and she, blushing slightly, whispered in a delicious tone of mingled52 shyness and pride:
"Only two weeks now, and I shall have some one to stand between me and the world. You have never needed any one, Miss Butterworth, for you do not fear the world, but it awes53 and troubles me, and my whole heart glows with the thought that I shall be no longer alone in my sorrows or my joys, my perplexities or my doubts. Am I to blame for anticipating this with so much happiness?"
I sighed. It was a less eloquent54 sigh than hers, but it was a distinct one and it had a distinct echo. Lifting my eyes, for I sat so as to face the bed, I was startled to observe my patient leaning towards us from her pillows, and staring upon us with eyes too hollow for tears but filled with unfathomable grief and yearning55.
She had heard this talk of love, she, the forsaken56 and crime-stained one. I shuddered and laid my hand on Miss Althorpe's.
But I did not seek to stop the conversation, for as our looks met, the sick woman fell back and lapsed58, or seemed to lapse57, into immediate1 insensibility again.
"Is Miss Oliver worse?" inquired Miss Althorpe.
I rose and went to the bedside, renewed the bandages on my patient's head, and forced a drop or two of medicine between her half-shut lips.
"No," I returned, "I think her fever is abating59."[Pg 252] And it was, though the suffering on her face was yet heart-rendingly apparent.
"Is she asleep?"
"She seems to be."
Miss Althorpe made an effort.
"I am not going to talk any more about myself." Then as I came back and sat down by her side, she quietly asked:
"What do you think of the Van Burnam murder?"
Dismayed at the introduction of this topic, I was about to put my hand over her mouth, when I noticed that her words had made no evident impression upon my patient, who lay quietly and with a more composed expression than when I left her bedside. This assured me, as nothing else could have done, that she was really asleep, or in that lethargic60 state which closes the eyes and ears to what is going on.
"I think," said I, "that the young man Howard stands in a very unfortunate position. Circumstances certainly do look very black against him."
"It is dreadful, unprecedently dreadful. I do not know what to think of it all. The Van Burnams have borne so good a name, and Franklin especially is held in such high esteem61. I don't think anything more shocking has ever happened in this city, do you, Miss Butterworth? You saw it all, and should know. Poor, poor Mrs. Van Burnam!"
"When I heard that a young woman had been found dead in the Van Burnam mansion," Miss Althorpe pursued with such evident interest in this new theme that I did not care to interrupt her unless driven[Pg 253] to it by some token of consciousness on the part of my patient, "my thoughts flew instinctively63 to Howard's wife. Though why, I cannot say, for I never had any reason to expect so tragic64 a termination to their marriage relations. And I cannot believe now that he killed her, can you, Miss Butterworth? Howard has too much of the gentleman in him to do a brutal65 thing, and there was brutality66 as well as adroitness67 in the perpetration of this crime. Have you thought of that, Miss Butterworth?"
"Yes," I nodded, "I have looked at the crime on all sides."
"Mr. Stone," said she, "feels dreadfully over the part he was forced to play at the inquest. But he had no choice, the police would have his testimony."
"That was right," I declared.
"It has made us doubly anxious to have Howard free himself. But he does not seem able to do so. If his wife had only known——"
Was there a quiver in the lids I was watching? I half raised my hand and then I let it drop again, convinced that I had been mistaken. Miss Althorpe at once continued:
"She was not a bad-hearted woman, only vain and frivolous68. She had set her heart on ruling in the great leather-merchant's house, and she did not know how to bear her disappointment. I have sympathy for her myself. When I saw her——"
Saw her! I started, upsetting a small work-basket at my side which for once I did not stop to pick up.
"You have seen her!" I repeated, dropping my eyes from the patient to fix them in my unbounded astonishment69 on Miss Althorpe's face.[Pg 254]
"Yes, more than once. She was—if she were living I would not repeat this—a nursery governess in a family where I once visited. That was before her marriage; before she had met either Howard or Franklin Van Burnam."
I was so overwhelmed, that for once I found difficulty in speaking. I glanced from her to the white form in the shrouded70 bed, and back again in ever-growing astonishment and dismay.
"You have seen her!" I at last reiterated71 in what I meant to be a whisper, but which fell little short of being a cry, "and you took in this girl?"
Her surprise at this burst was almost equal to mine.
"Yes, why not; what have they in common?"
I sank back, my house of cards was trembling to its foundations.
"Louise Van Burnam look like that girl! O no, they were very different sort of women. What made you think there was any resemblance between them?"
I did not answer her; the structure I had reared with such care and circumspection73 had fallen about my ears and I lay gasping74 under the ruins.
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1
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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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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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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intruding
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| v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的现在分词)；把…强加于 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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fatigues
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| n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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memoranda
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| n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式 | |
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peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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26
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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peevish
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| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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conclusively
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| adv.令人信服地，确凿地 | |
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arraignment
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| n.提问，传讯，责难 | |
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magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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42
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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43
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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48
disinterestedness
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49
implicitly
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| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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50
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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51
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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52
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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53
awes
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| n.敬畏，惊惧( awe的名词复数 )v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的第三人称单数 ) | |
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54
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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55
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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56
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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57
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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58
lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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59
abating
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| 减少( abate的现在分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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60
lethargic
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| adj.昏睡的，懒洋洋的 | |
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61
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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62
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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63
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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64
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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65
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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67
adroitness
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68
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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69
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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70
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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71
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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73
circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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74
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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