Part 21 (2/2)
”Richard, I do not know what I am, but I know one thing; I am entirely changed. Some strange miracle has been wrought in me. I came to ask you what it is.”
”You see that both Professor Sarakoff and I have got the germ in our systems like you, Alice. Yes, it is a miracle; we are Immortals.”
I studied her face attentively, she had changed. It seemed to me that she was another woman, she moved in a new way, her speech was unhurried, her gaze was direct and thoughtful. I recalled her former appearance when her manner had been nervous and bashful, her eyes downcast, her movements hurried and anxious.
”I do not understand,” she said. ”Tell me all you know.”
I did so, I suppose I must have talked for an hour on end. Throughout that time neither she nor Sarakoff stirred. When I had finished there was a long silence.
”It is funny to think of our last meeting, Richard,” she said at length.
”Do you remember how my father behaved? He is different now. He sits all day in his study--he eats very little. He seems to be in a dream.”
”And you?” I asked.
”I am in a dream, too. I do not understand it. All the things I used to busy myself with seem unimportant.”
”That is how we feel,” said Sarakoff. He rose to his feet and spoke strongly. ”Harden, as Miss Annot says, everything has changed. I never foresaw this; I do not understand it myself.”
He went slowly to the mantelpiece and leaned against it.
”When I created this germ, I saw in my mind an ideal picture of life. I saw a world freed from a dire spectre, a world from which fear had been removed, the fear of death. I saw the great triumph of materialism and the final smas.h.i.+ng up of all superst.i.tion. A man would live in a state of absolute certainty. He would lay his plans for pleasure and comfort and enjoyment with absolute precision, knowing--not hoping--but certainly knowing, that they would come about. I saw cities and gardens built in triumph to cater for the gratification of every sense. I saw new laws in operation, constructed by men who knew that they had mastered the secret of life and had nothing to fear. I saw all those things about which we are so timid and vague--marriage and divorce, the education of children, luxury, the working cla.s.ses, religion and so on--absolutely settled in black and white. I saw what I thought to be the millennium.”
”And now?” asked Alice.
”Now I see nothing. I am in the dark. I do not understand what has happened to me.”
”What we are in for now, no man can say,” I remarked.
”It's the extraordinary restfulness that puzzles me,” said Sarakoff.
”Here I have been sitting for hours and I feel no inclination to do anything.”
”The thing that is most extraordinary to me is the difficulty I have in realizing how I spent my time formerly,” said Alice. ”Of course, father is no bother now and meals have been cut down, but that does not account for all of it. It seems as if I had been living in a kind of nightmare in the past, from which I have suddenly escaped.”
”What do you feel most inclined to do?” I asked.
”Nothing at present. I sit and think. It was difficult for me to make myself come here to-day.” She smiled suddenly. ”Richard, it seems strange to recall that we were engaged.”
She spoke without any embarra.s.sment and I answered her with equal ease.
”I hope you don't think our engagement is broken off, Alice. I think my feelings towards you are unchanged.”
”Ah!” exclaimed Sarakoff. ”That is interesting. Are you sure of that, Harden?”
”Not altogether,” I answered tranquilly. ”There is a lot to think out before I can be sure, but I know that I feel towards Alice a great sympathy.”
”Sympathy!” the Russian exclaimed. ”What are we coming to? Good heavens!
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