Works of Ellen Wood, page 597
But of course there was no certainty that he would not return. Possibly that insecurity caused Ann to take stolen looks into the fold-yard, and then dive under the hedge, as if she had been at some forbidden play. But Dumps did not return; and yet she continued her game.
A full hour had she been at it: and by her countenance, and the occasional almost despairing movement of her hands, it might be inferred that she was growing sadly anxious and weary: when Jim Sanders emerged from one of the out-buildings at the upper end of the fold-yard, and began to make for the other end. To do this he had to pass within a few yards of the hedge where the by-play was going on; and somewhat to his surprise he heard himself called to in hushed tones. Casting his eyes to the spot whence the voice proceeded, he saw the care-worn brow and weak eyes of Ann Canham above the hedge. She beckoned to him mysteriously, and then all signs of her disappeared.
“If ever I see the like o’ that!” soliloquised Jim. “What’s up with Ann Canham?” He approached the hedge, and bawled out to know what she wanted.
“Hush — sh — sh — sh!” came the warning from the other side. “Come here, Jim.”
Considerably astonished, thinking perhaps Ann Canham had a litter of puppies to show him — for, if Jim had a weakness for anything on earth, it was for those charming specimens of the animal world — he made his way through the gate. Ann had no puppies; nothing but a small note in her hand wafered and pressed with a thimble.
“Is the master anywhere about, Jim?”
“He’s just gone into the barn now. The men be thrashing.”
Ann paused a moment. Jim stared at her.
“Could you just do me a service, Jim?”
Jim, good-natured at all times, replied that he supposed he could if he tried. But he stared, still puzzled by this extraordinary behaviour on the part of quiet Ann Canham.
“I want this bit of a letter given to him,” she said, pointing to what she held. “I want it given to him when he’s by himself, so that it don’t get seen. Could you manage it, Jim?”
“I dare say I could,” replied Jim. “What is the letter? What’s inside it?”
“It concerns Mr. Ryle,” said Ann, after a perceptible hesitation. “Jim, if you’ll do this faithful, I won’t forget it. Watch your opportunity; and keep the letter inside your smock-frock, for fear anybody should see it.”
“I’ll do it,” said Jim. He took the note from her, put it in his trousers pocket, and went back towards the barn whistling. Ann turned homewards, flying over the ground as if she were running a race.
Jim had not to wait for an opportunity. He met his master coming out of the barn. The doorway was dark; the thrashing men were at the upper end of the barn, and no eyes were near. Jim could not help some of the mystery which had appeared in Ann Canham’s manner extending to his own.
“What’s this?” asked George.
“Ann Canham brought it, sir. She was hiding t’other side the hedge and called to me, and telled me to be sure give it when nobody was by.”
George took the missive to the door and looked at it. A piece of white paper, which had apparently served to wrap up tea or something of that sort, awkwardly folded and wafered. No direction.
He opened it; and saw a few words in a sprawling hand:
“Don’t betray me, George. Come to me in secret as soon as you can. I think I am dying.”
And in spite of its being without signature; in spite of the scrawled characters, and blotted words, George Ryle recognised the handwriting of Rupert Trevlyn.
CHAPTER XLVII
SURPRISE
On the hard flock bed in the upper back room at the lodge, he lay. As George Ryle stood there bending over him, he could have touched each of the surrounding walls. The remark of Jim Sanders that Ann Canham had brought the note, guided George naturally to the lodge; otherwise he would not have known where to look for him. One single question to old Canham as he entered— “Is he here?” — and George bounded up the stairs.
Ann Canham, who was standing over the bed — her head just escaping the low ceiling — turned to George: trouble and pain on her countenance as she spoke.
“He is in delirium now, sir. I was afeared he would be.”
George Ryle was too astonished to make any reply. Never had he cast a shadow of suspicion to Rupert’s being concealed at the lodge. “Has he been here long?” he whispered.
“All along, sir, since the night he was missed,” was the reply. “After I had got home that night, and was telling father about Master Rupert’s having took the half-loaf in his hunger, he come knocking at the door to be let in. Chattaway and him had met and quarrelled, and he was knocked down, his shoulder was hurt, and he felt tired and sick; and he said he’d stop with us till morning, and be away afore daylight, so that we should not get into trouble for sheltering him. He got me to lend him my pen and ink, and wrote a letter to that there foreign gentleman, Mr. Daw. After that, with a dreadful deal of pressing, sir, I got him to come up to bed here, and I lay on the settle downstairs for the night. Before daylight I was up, and had the fired lighted, and the kettle on, to make him a cup o’ tea before starting, but he did not come down. I came up here and found him ill. His shoulder was stiff and painful, he was bruised and sore all over, and thought he couldn’t get out o’ bed. Well, sir, he stopped, and have been here ever since, getting worse, and me just frightened out of my life, for fear he should be found by Mr. Chattaway or the police, and took off to prison. I was sick for the whole day after, sir, that time Mr. Bowen called me into his station-house and set on to question me.”
George was looking at Rupert. There could not be a doubt that he was in a state of partial delirium. George feared there could not be a doubt that he was in danger. The bed was low and narrow, evidently hard; the bolster small and thin. Rupert’s head lay on it quietly enough; his hair, which had grown long since his confinement, fell around him in wavy masses; his cheeks wore the hectic of fever, his blue eyes were unnaturally bright. There was no speculation in those eyes. They were partially closed, and though at the entrance of George they were turned to him, there was no recognition in them. His arms were flung outside the bed, the wristbands pushed up as if from heat.
“I have put him on a shirt o’ father’s, sir, when his have wanted washing,” explained Ann Canham, to whom it was natural to relate minute details.
“How long has he been without consciousness?” inquired George.
“Just for the last hour, sir. He wrote the letter I brought to you, and when I come back he was like this. Maybe he’ll come to himself again presently; he’s been as bad as this at times in the last day or two. I’m so afeard of its going on to brain-fever or some other fever. If he should get raving, we could never keep his being here a secret; he’d be heard outside.”
“He ought to have had a doctor before this.”
“But how is one to be got here?” debated Ann Canham. “Once a doctor knew where Mr. Rupert was, he might betray it — there’s the reward, you know, sir. And how could we get a doctor in without its being known at the Hold? What mightn’t Chattaway suspect?”
George remained silent, revolving the matter. There were difficulties undoubtedly in the way.
“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve been in, sir, especially since he grew worse. At first, he just lay here quiet, more as if glad of the rest, and my chief care was to keep folks as far as I could out o’ the lodge, bathe his shoulder, and bring him up a share of our poor meals. But since the fever came upon him, I’ve been half dazed, wondering what I ought to do. There were two people I thought I might speak to — you, sir, and Madam. But Mr. Rupert was against it, and father was dead against it. They were afraid, you see, that if only one was told, it might come to be known he was here. Father’s old now, and helpless; he couldn’t do a stroke towards getting his own living. If I be out before daylight at any of my places, it’s as much as he can do to open the gate and fasten it back: and he knows Mr. Chattaway would turn us right off the estate if it come to be known we had sheltered Mr. Rupert. But yesterday Mr. Rupert found he was getting worse and worse, and I said to father what would become of us if he should die? And they both said that you should be told to-day if he was no better. We did think him a trifle better this morning, but later the fever came on again, and Mr. Rupert himself said he’d write you a word, and I found a bit o’ paper and brought him the big Bible, and held it while he wrote the letter on it.”
She ceased. George, as before, was looking at Rupert. It seemed to Ann Canham that he could not gaze sufficiently, but in truth he was lost in thought; fairly puzzled with the difficulties encompassing the case.
“Is it anything more than low fever?” he asked.
“I don’t think it is, sir, yet. But it may go on to more, you know.”
George did know. He knew that assistance was necessary in more ways than one, if worse was to be avoided. Medical attendance, a more airy room, generous nourishment; and how was even one of them to be accomplished, let alone all? The close closet — it could scarcely be called more — had no chimney in it; air and light could come in only through a small pane ingeniously made to open in the roof. The narrow bed and one chair occupied almost all the space, leaving very little for George and Ann Canham as they stood. George, coming in from the fresh air, felt half-stifled with the closeness of the room: and this must be dangerous for the invalid. It is a mercy that these inconveniences are soothed to those who have to endure them — as most inconveniences and trials are in life. To an outsider they appear unbearable; but to the sufferers they are tempered. George Ryle felt as if a day in that atmosphere would half kill him; but Rupert, lying there always, was sensible of no discomfort. It was not, however, the less injurious; and it appeared that there was no remedy; could be no removal.
“What have you given him?” inquired George.
“I have made him some herb tea, sir, but it didn’t seem to do him good, and then I went over to Barmester and got a bottle o’ physic. I had to say it was for father, and the druggist told me I ought to call in a doctor, when I described the illness. Coming out of the shop there was Miss Diana’s pony-carriage at the door, and Madam met me and asked who the physic was for: I never was so took aback. But the physic didn’t seem to do him good neither.”
“I meant as to food,” returned George.
“Ah! sir — what could I give him but our poor fare? milk porridge and such like. I went up to the Hold one day and begged a basin o’ curds-and-whey, and he eat it all and drank up the whey quite greedy; but I didn’t dare go again, for fear of their suspecting something. It’s meat and wine he ought to have had from the first, sir, but we can’t get such things as that. Why, sir, I shouldn’t dare be seen cooking a bit o’ meat: it would set Mr. Chattaway wondering at once. What’s to be done?”
What, indeed? There was the question. Idea after idea shot through George Ryle’s brain; wild fancies, because impossible to be acted upon. It might be dangerous to call in a doctor. Allowing that the man of medicine proved true and kept the secret, the very fact of his attendance would cause a stir at the Hold. Miss Diana would come down, questioning old Canham; and would inevitably find that he was not ill enough to need a doctor. A doctor might venture there once: but regularly? George did not see the way by any means clear.
But Rupert must not be left to die. George took up his delicate hand — Rupert’s hands had always been delicate — and held it as he spoke to him. It was hot; fevered; the dry lips were parched; the hectic cheeks, the white brow, all burning with fever. “Don’t you know me, Rupert?” he bent lower to ask.
The words were so far heard that Rupert moved his head on the bolster; perhaps the familiar name struck some chord in his memory; but there was no recognition, and he began to twitch at the bed-clothes with one of his hands.
George turned away. He went down the ladder of a staircase, feeling that little time was to be lost. Old Canham stood in his tottering fashion, leaning upon his crutch, watching the descent.
“What do you think of him, Mr. George?”
“I hardly know what to think, Mark. Or rather, I know what to think, but I don’t know what to do. A doctor must be got here; and without loss of time.”
Old Canham lifted his hands with a gesture of despair. “Once the secret is give over to a doctor, sir, there’s no telling where it’ll travel, or what’ll be the consequence to us all.”
“I think King would be true,” said George. “Nay, I feel sure he would be. The worst is, he’s simple-minded, and might betray it through sheer inadvertency. I would a great deal rather bring Mr. Benage to him; I know we might rely on Benage, and he is more skilful than King; but it is not practicable. To see the renowned Barmester doctor in attendance on you might create greater commotion at the Hold than would be desirable. No, it must be King.”
“Sir, couldn’t you go to one o’ the gentlemen yourself and describe what’s the matter with Master Rupert. You needn’t say who’s ill.”
George shook his head. “It would not do, Mark; the responsibility is too great. Were anything to happen to Rupert — and I believe he is in danger — you and I should blame ourselves for not having called in advice at all risks. I shall get King here somehow.”
He went out as he spoke, partly perhaps to avoid further opposition to what he felt must be done. Yet he did not see the surrounding difficulties the less, and halted in thought outside the lodge door.
At that moment, Maude Trevlyn came into view, walking slowly down the avenue. George advanced to meet her, and could not help noticing her listless step, her pale, weary face.
“Maude, what is the trouble now?”
That she had been grieving, and recently, her eyes betrayed. Struggling for a brief moment with her feelings, she gave way to a burst of tears.
George drew her into the trees. “Maude, Maude, if you go on like this you will be ill. What is it?”
“This suspense! — this agony!” she breathed. “Every day, almost every hour, something or other occurs to renew the trouble. If it could only end! I cannot bear it much longer. I feel as if I must go off to the ends of the earth in search of him. If I only knew he was living, it would be something.”
George took rapid counsel with himself. Surely Maude would be safe; surely it would be a charity, nay, a duty, to tell her! He drew her hand in his, and bent his face near to hers.
“Maude! what will you give me for news I have heard? I can give you tidings of Rupert. He is not dead; not even very far away!”
For an instant her heart stood still. But George glanced round as with fear, and his tones were sad.
“He is taken!” she exclaimed, her pulses bounding on.
“No. But care must be observed if we would prevent it. In that sense, he is at liberty. But it is not all sunshine, Maude; he is very ill.”
“Where is he?” she gasped.
“Will you compose yourself if I take you to him? But we have need of great caution; we must make sure no prying eyes are spying at us.”
Her very agitation proved how great had been the strain upon her nervous system; for a few minutes he thought she would faint, as she stood leaning against the tree. “Only take me to him, George,” she murmured. “I will bless you forever.”
Into the lodge and up old Canham’s narrow staircase he led her. She entered the room timidly, not with the eager bound of hope, but with slow and hesitating steps, almost as she had once entered into the presence of the dead, that long past night at Trevlyn Farm.
He lay as he had lain when George went out: the eyes fixed, the head beginning to turn restlessly, one hand picking at the coarse brown sheet. “Come in, Maude; there is nothing to fear; but he will not know you.”
She went in and stood for a moment gazing at him who lay there, as though it required time to take in the scene; then she fell on her knees in a strange burst, half joy, half grief, and kissed his hands and fevered lips.
“Oh, Rupert, Rupert! My brother Rupert!”
CHAPTER XLVIII
DANGER
The residence of Mr. King, the surgeon, was situated on the road to Barbrook, not far from the parsonage: a small, square, red-brick house, two storeys high, with a great bronze knocker on the particularly narrow and modest door. If you wanted to enter, you could either raise this knocker, which would most likely bring forth Mr. King himself; or, ignoring ceremony, turn the handle and walk in of your own accord, as George Ryle did, and admitted himself into the narrow passage. On the right was the parlour, quite a fashionable room, with a tiger-skin stretched out by way of hearth-rug; on the left a small apartment fitted up with bottles and pill-boxes, where Mr. King saw his patients. One sat there as George Ryle entered, and the surgeon turned round, as he poured some liquid from what looked like a jelly-glass, into a green bottle.
Now, of all the disagreeable contretemps that could have occurred, to meet that particular patient was about the worst. Ann Canham had not been more confounded at the sight of Policeman Dumps’s head over the hedge, than George was at Policeman Dumps himself — for it was no other than that troublesome officer who sat in the patient’s chair, the late afternoon’s sun streaming on his head. George’s active mind hit on a ready excuse for his own visit.
“Is my mother’s medicine ready, Mr. King?”
“The medicine ready! Why, I sent it three good hours ago!”
“Did you? I understood them to say —— But there’s no harm done; I was coming down this way. A nice warm afternoon!” he exclaimed, throwing himself into a chair as if he would take a little rest. “Are you having a tooth drawn, Dumps?”
“No, sir, but I’ve got the face-ache awful,” was Dumps’s reply, who was holding a handkerchief to his right cheek. “It’s what they call tic-douloureux, I fancy, for it comes on by fits and starts. I’m out of sorts altogether, and thought I’d ask Doctor King to make me up a bottle of physic.”
So the physic was for Dumps. Mr. King seemed a long time over it, measuring this liquid, measuring that, shaking it all up together, and gossiping the while. George, in his impatience, thought it would never come to an end. Dumps seemed to be in no hurry to depart, Mr. King in no hurry to dismiss him. They talked over half the news of the parish. They spoke of Rupert Trevlyn and his prolonged absence, and Mr. Dumps gave it as his opinion that “if he wasn’t in hiding somewhere, he was gone for good.” Whether Mr. Dumps meant gone to some foreign terrestrial country, or into a celestial, he did not explain.
