Part 30 (2/2)
”Not a single howl all the time that Rosamund has been away.”
”There is one thing more,” Caroline began hesitatingly.
That one thing lacked forever the clothing of words. There came a curious, almost a dramatic interruption. Through the silence of the hall there pealed the summons of the great bell which hung over the front door. Dominey glanced at the clock in amazement.
”Midnight!” he exclaimed. ”Who on earth can be coming here at this time of night!”
Instinctively they both rose to their feet. A manservant had turned the great key, drawn the bolts, and opened the door with difficulty. Little flakes of snow and a gust of icy wind swept into the hall, and following them the figure of a man, white from head to foot, his hair tossed with the wind, almost unrecognisable after his struggle.
”Why, Doctor Harrison!” Dominey cried, taking a quick step forward.
”What brings you here at this time of night!”
The doctor leaned upon his stick for a moment. He was out of breath, and the melting snow was pouring from his clothes on to the oak floor. They relieved him of his coat and dragged him towards the fire.
”I must apologise for disturbing you at such an hour,” he said, as he took the tumbler which Dominey pressed into his hand. ”I have only just received Lady Dominey's telegram. I had to see you--at once.”
CHAPTER XVIII
The doctor, with his usual bluntness, did not hesitate to make it known that this unusual visit was of a private nature. Caroline promptly withdrew, and the two men were left alone in the great hall. The lights in the billiard-room and drawing-room were extinguished. Every one in the house except a few servants had retired.
”Sir Everard,” the doctor began, ”this return of Lady Dominey's has taken me altogether by surprise. I had intended to-morrow morning to discuss the situation with you.”
”I am most anxious to hear your report,” Dominey said.
”My report is good,” was the confident answer. ”Although I would not have allowed her to have left the nursing home so suddenly had I known, there was nothing to keep her there. Lady Dominey, except for one hallucination, is in perfect health, mentally and physically.”
”And this one hallucination?”
”That you are not her husband.”
Dominey was silent for a moment. Then he laughed a little unnaturally.
”Can a person be perfectly sane,” he asked, ”and yet be subject to an hallucination which must make the whole of her surroundings seem unreal?”
”Lady Dominey is perfectly sane,” the doctor answered bluntly, ”and as for that hallucination, it is up to you to dispel it.”
”Perhaps you can give me some advice?” Dominey suggested.
”I can, and I am going to be perfectly frank with you,” the doctor replied. ”To begin with then, there are certain obvious changes in you which might well minister to Lady Dominey's hallucination. For instance, you have been in England now some eight months, during which time you have revealed an entirely new personality. You seem to have got rid of every one of your bad habits, you drink moderately, as a gentleman should, you have subdued your violent temper, and you have collected around you, where your personality could be the only inducement, friends of distinction and interest. This is not at all what one expected from the Everard Dominey who scuttled out of England a dozen years ago.”
”You are excusing my wife,” Dominey remarked.
”She needs no excuses,” was the brusque reply. ”She has been a long-enduring and faithful woman, suffering from a cruel illness, brought on, to take the kindest view if it, through your clumsiness and lack of discretion. Like all good women, forgiveness is second nature to her. It has now become her wish to take her proper place in life.”
”But if her hallucination continues,” Dominey asked, ”if she seriously doubts that I am indeed her husband, how can she do that?”
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