Part 66 (1/2)

”O yes, let us talk, it is so delightful; tell me of all the fine people you see daily. Do you speak to them as kindly as to me, or are you more reserved and distant? Do tell me.”

”I will tell you all about these things another time, when it will be safer for you to hear them. You must have perfect rest and quiet now.”

”It would quiet me far more to listen to you than to let me think on and on, as I have been doing. You are going away already?”

”I cannot help it, my child; I have many others waiting for me to see them.”

”But you wouldn't hurry away from me in this fas.h.i.+on if I were a great person?”

”Pardon me; you are a very great person to _me_.”

”How so? Tell me what you mean; do tell me,” cried she; and she started up and caught his hand with both her own. ”I must know what that means.”

”Listen to me, my child,” and he spoke in a graver, almost a stern manner; ”I can only do the work of my daily life by being very despotic.

I have replied to more questions of yours now, than I should have answered to a Royal Highness. Good-by.”

”Good-by!” said she, and pressed his hand to her hot lips. ”Good-by; don't forget me.”

As the Doctor, followed by Mrs. Simc.o.x, left the room, he stood for a moment in the corridor, deep in thought. ”Her mind is collected now,”

said he, at last; ”there is only excitement; there is no aberration.”

”She has those intervals every now and then, Sir, and she'll speak as sensibly as any one; and, indeed, it's hard to say when she is not talking rational, for she is odd and strange when she's well.”

”Yes, I see that; she is no ordinary person.”

”And no later than last night, Sir, when we imagined that she was talking a mere gibberish of her own, our second housemaid, that was in the room, went over and answered her, and there they talked together for more than a quarter of an hour, Sir; and I asked Molly what it was, and she said it was Irish. So, when the girl came into the room this morning, I told her to talk it again; but, would you believe it, Sir, our young lady began to laugh, and asked what the creature meant by that nonsense. She did not know one word, Sir, Molly was saying, any more than ourselves.”

The Doctor nodded a.s.sentingly, as though such a case was familiar to him, and pa.s.sed on. At the foot of the stairs he found Sir Within waiting for him.

”I will talk to Price,” said Sir Henry; ”I shall see him to-night, and to-morrow I will take another opportunity of seeing her before I return to town.

”Are you hopeful as to the result?” asked Sir Within, with much anxiety in his look.

”She has youth in her favour,” said he, as he b.u.t.toned up his overcoat.

”And you think well of her case, then?”

”I did not say so, Sir; I don't think any man would go so far; for it will be tedious, and consequently precarious. And there are now and then recoveries that can scarcely be called benefits. How many miles do you call it to Wrexham?”

”You speak of the effects upon the brain--the permanent effects?” said Sir Within, with trembling eagerness.

”Brain or membranes, I don't think it signifies much which. And Wrexham--how far is it?”

”Your postboy will tell you, Sir; this case is of much more moment to me.”

Sir Henry turned a full steady look on the old envoy, as though he were contemplating an order of being wholly new and strange to him; and then turning to the housekeeper, who still stood at his side, said: ”Stop the ice--apply mere cold water; don't talk to her, and no more Irish--take care of that--no more Irish. Good night, Sir Within;” and stepping hastily down the steps, he entered his carriage and drove away.

”What did he mean by that last direction, no more Irish, Mrs. Simc.o.x?”

asked Sir Within.