Accordingly I was on hand with my patient at the hour designated, and, as I supported her trembling steps down the stairs, I endeavored not to betray the intense interest agitating3 me, or to awaken4 by my curiosity any further dread5 in her mind than that involved by her departure from this home of bounty6 and good feeling, and her entrance upon an unknown and possibly much to be apprehended7 future.
Mr. Gryce was awaiting us in the lower hall, and as he caught sight of her slender figure and anxious face his whole attitude became at once so protecting and so sympathetic, I did not wonder at her failure to associate him with the police.
"I am glad to see you so far on the road to recovery," he remarked. "It shows me that my prophecy is correct and that in a few days you will be quite yourself again."
She looked at him wistfully.[Pg 336]
"You seem to know so much about me, doctor, perhaps you can tell me where they are going to take me."
He lifted a tassel9 from a curtain near by, looked at it, shook his head at it, and inquired quite irrelevantly10:
"Have you bidden good-bye to Miss Althorpe?"
Her eyes stole towards the parlors11 and she whispered as if half in awe12 of the splendor13 everywhere surrounding her:
"I have not had the opportunity. But I should be sorry to go without a word of thanks for her goodness. Is she at home?"
The tassel slipped from his hand.
"You will find her in a carriage at the door. She has an engagement out this afternoon, but wishes to say good-bye to you before leaving."
"Oh, how kind she is!" burst from the girl's white lips; and with a hurried gesture she was making for the door when Mr. Gryce stepped before her and opened it.
Two carriages were drawn14 up in front, neither of which seemed to possess the elegance15 of so rich a woman's equipage. But Mr. Gryce appeared satisfied, and pointing to the nearest one, observed quietly:
"You are expected. If she does not open the carriage door for you, do not hesitate to do it yourself. She has something of importance to say to you."
Miss Oliver looked surprised, but prepared to obey him. Steadying herself by the stone balustrade, she slowly descended16 the steps and advanced towards the carriage. I watched her from the doorway17 and Mr. Gryce from the vestibule. It seemed an ordinary situation,[Pg 337] but something in the latter's face convinced me that interests of no small moment depended upon the interview about to take place.
But before I could decide upon their nature or satisfy myself as to the full meaning of Mr. Gryce's manner, she had started back from the carriage door and was saying to him in a tone of modest embarrassment18:
"There is a gentleman in the carriage; you must have made some mistake."
Mr. Gryce, who had evidently expected a different result from his stratagem19, hesitated for a moment, during which I felt that he read her through and through; then he responded lightly:
"I made a mistake, eh? Oh, possibly. Look in the other carriage, my child."
With an unaffected air of confidence she turned to do so, and I turned to watch her, for I began to understand the "scheme" at which I was assisting, and foresaw that the emotion she had failed to betray at the door of the first carriage might not necessarily be lacking on the opening of the second.
I was all the more assured of this from the fact that Miss Althorpe's stately figure was very plainly to be seen at that moment, not in the coach Miss Oliver was approaching, but in an elegant victoria just turning the corner.
My expectations were realized; for no sooner had the poor girl swung open the door of the second hack20, than her whole body succumbed21 to a shock so great that I expected to see her fall in a heap on the pavement. But she steadied herself up with a determined22 effort, and with a sudden movement full of subdued23 fury, jumped into the carriage and violently shut the[Pg 338] door just as the first carriage drove off to give place to Miss Althorpe's turn-out.
"Humph!" sprang from Mr. Gryce's lips in a tone so full of varied24 emotions that it was with difficulty I refrained from rushing down the stoop to see for myself who was the occupant of the coach into which my late patient had so passionately25 precipitated26 herself. But the sight of Miss Althorpe being helped to the ground by her attendant lover, recalled me so suddenly to my own anomalous27 position on her stoop, that I let my first impulse pass and concerned myself instead with the formation of those apologies I thought necessary to the occasion. But those apologies were never uttered. Mr. Gryce, with the infinite tact28 he displays in all serious emergencies, came to my rescue, and so distracted Miss Althorpe's attention that she failed to observe that she had interrupted a situation of no small moment.
Meanwhile the coach containing Miss Oliver had, at a signal from the wary29 detective, drawn off in the wake of the first one, and I had the doubtful satisfaction of seeing them both roll down the street without my having penetrated30 the secret of either.
A glance from Mr. Stone, who had followed Miss Althorpe up the stoop, interrupted Mr. Gryce's flow of eloquence31, and a few minutes later I found myself making those adieux which I had hoped to avoid by departing in Miss Althorpe's absence. Another instant and I was hastening down the street in the direction taken by the two carriages, one of which had paused at the corner a few rods off.
But, spry as I am for one of my settled habits and sedate32 character, I found myself passed by Mr. Gryce;[Pg 339] and when I would have accelerated my steps, he darted33 forward quite like a boy and, without a word of explanation or any acknowledgment of the mutual34 understanding which certainly existed between us, leaped into the carriage I was endeavoring to reach, and was driven away. But not before I caught a glimpse of Miss Oliver's gray dress inside.
Determined not to be baffled by this man, I turned about and followed the other carriage. It was approaching a crowded part of the avenue, and in a few minutes I had the gratification of seeing it come to a standstill only a few feet from the curb-stone. The opportunity thus afforded me of satisfying my curiosity was not to be slighted. Without pausing to consider consequences or to question the propriety35 of my conduct, I stepped boldly up in front of its half-lowered window and looked in. There was but one person inside, and that person was Franklin Van Burnam.
What was I to conclude from this? That the occupant of the other carriage was Howard, and that Mr. Gryce now knew with which of the two brothers Miss Oliver's memories were associated.
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1
blindfold
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| vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物 | |
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2
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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3
agitating
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| 搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论 | |
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4
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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5
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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6
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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7
apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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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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9
tassel
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| n.流苏，穗；v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须 | |
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10
irrelevantly
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| adv.不恰当地，不合适地；不相关地 | |
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11
parlors
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| 客厅( parlor的名词复数 )； 起居室； （旅馆中的）休息室； （通常用来构成合成词）店 | |
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12
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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13
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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14
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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15
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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16
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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17
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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18
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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19
stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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20
hack
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| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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21
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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22
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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23
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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24
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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25
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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26
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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27
anomalous
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| adj.反常的；不规则的 | |
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28
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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29
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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30
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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31
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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32
sedate
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| adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的 | |
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33
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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34
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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35
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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