Part 31 (1/2)
”Are you alone?” asked Garth standing still. ”I thought I heard voices.”
”You did,” replied the doctor. ”I was talking to a young woman.”
”What sort of young woman?” asked Garth.
”A buxom young person,” replied the doctor, ”with a decidedly touchy temper.”
”Do you know her name?”
”Jane,” said the doctor recklessly.
”Not 'Jane,'” said Garth quickly,--”Jean. I know her,--my gardener's eldest daughter. Rather weighed down by family cares, poor girl.”
”I saw she was weighed down,” said the doctor. ”I did not know it was by family cares. Let us sit on this trunk. Can you call up the view to mind?”
”Yes,” replied Garth; ”I know it so well. But it terrifies me to find how my mental pictures are fading; all but one.”
”And that is--?” asked the doctor.
”The face of the One Woman,” said Garth in his blindness.
”Ah, my dear fellow,” said the doctor, ”I have not forgotten my promise to give you this morning my opinion on your story. I have been thinking it over carefully, and have arrived at several conclusions. Shall we sit on this fallen tree? Won't you smoke? One can talk better under the influence of the fragrant weed.”
Garth took out his cigarette case, chose a cigarette, lighted it with care, and flung the flaming match straight on to Jane's clasped hands.
Before the doctor could spring up, Jane had smilingly flicked it off.
”What nerve!” thought Deryck, with admiration. ”Ninety-nine women out of a hundred would have said 'Ah!' and given away the show. Really, she deserves to win.”
Suddenly Garth stood up. ”I think we shall do better on the other log,”
he said unexpectedly. ”It is always in fuller suns.h.i.+ne.” And he moved towards Jane.
With a bound the doctor sprang in front of him, seized Jane with one strong hand and drew her behind him; then guided Garth to the very spot where she had been sitting.
”How accurately you judge distance,” he remarked, backing with Jane towards the further trunk. Then he seated himself beside Garth in the suns.h.i.+ne. ”Now for our talk,” said the doctor, and he said it rather breathlessly.
”Are you sure we are alone?” asked Garth. ”I seem conscious of another presence.”
”My dear fellow,” said the doctor, ”is one ever alone in a wood?
Countless little presences surround us. Bright eyes peep down from the branches; furry tails flick in and out of holes; things unseen move in the dead leaves at our feet. If you seek solitude, shun the woods.”
”Yes,” replied Garth, ”I know, and I love listening to them. I meant a human presence. Brand, I am often so tried by the sense of an unseen human presence near me. Do you know, I could have sworn the other day that she--the One Woman--came silently, looked upon me in my blindness, pitied me, as her great tender heart would do, and silently departed.”
”When was that?” asked the doctor.
”A few days ago. Dr. Rob had been telling us how he came across her in--Ah! I must not say where. Then he and Miss Gray left me alone, and in the lonely darkness and silence I felt her eyes upon me.”
”Dear boy,” said the doctor, ”you must not encourage this dread of unseen presences. Remember, those who care for us very truly and deeply can often make us conscious of their mental nearness, even when far away, especially if they know we are in trouble and needing them. You must not be surprised if you are often conscious of the nearness of the One Woman, for I believe--and I do not say it lightly, Dalmain--I believe her whole heart and love and life are yours.”
”Good Lord!” exclaimed Garth, and springing up, strode forward aimlessly.
The doctor caught him by the arm. In another moment he would have fallen over Jane's feet.