Part 6 (1/2)
CHAPTER VIII.
The next day Mauer was still so entirely unnerved and overcome by the events of the day before that it was with the greatest difficulty he rose from the bed; and yet it was intolerable misery to remain there.
All Carmen's persuasions were of no avail; he insisted on getting up and dressing; but was quite unable to leave the house, and required the most perfect quietness. She tried to divert his mind, by gentle, cheerful conversation, from the sad, gloomy thoughts which seemed to oppress him. It made the girl's tender heart ache, as she looked into his unutterably sad face, which only yesterday was beaming with such great joy.
At ten o'clock Jonathan came to pay a friendly visit. Fortunately Carmen, who was standing at the window, saw him coming across the street towards the house, and warning her father of the approaching visit, she could see how he started with terror at the information.
But he soon controlled himself, and said in a resigned tone: ”Let him come in. The sooner I get through all the meetings and greetings, the sooner I will have some rest. I must grow accustomed to seeing him, and I feel stronger to-day than yesterday. I have not seen him before, since your dear mother died, Carmen, and life has been one long unbroken sorrow since then.” She made a movement to leave the room, so that the meeting between the friends should be private, but Mauer held her back and pleaded: ”Stay with me, my child,” as if he could not bear to have her out of his sight.
When Jonathan entered, he stood for a moment near the door, and his eyes sought to read the expression of the sick man's face. The latter sat with his head resting against the sofa-cus.h.i.+on, and his deep-sunken eyes fixed beseechingly on the visitor, as if saying, ”Spare me!”
”Good-morning Brother Mauer!” cried Jonathan. ”Are you feeling better to-day?” He held out his hand, into which the other placed his hesitatingly, and would have quickly withdrawn it had not Jonathan held it fast as he said:
”Let me feel your pulse. You are still very much fatigued, and your hand is as cold as ice.”
”Thank you, Brother Jonathan,” said the invalid; ”I think perfect rest is the best remedy. I have borne many heavy burdens, dear Brother, which have weighed me down intolerably; and now that the Lord has led me home again, let your pity and sympathy be with me on account of all I have suffered.”
”Certainly, Brother Michael; it cannot be otherwise. Your return has been a matter of great rejoicing with us all,” replied Jonathan. ”But I must give you a prescription, that you may gain your strength more quickly. Do not talk too much to-day; some time, later on, you must give us an account of your travels.” With these words, he turned to Carmen with a searching look, as if to divine how far he might trust to her silence. She purposely avoided his eye, and remained standing at the window.
”I will make your father well again, if you will be kind to me in return,” he said with emphasis.
Then she was compelled to turn and speak. This man ruled her, in spite of her dislike.
”If you can do anything for my father, Brother Jonathan, you will please not consider me in the matter, but do it for G.o.d's sake and your own,” she replied calmly.
He drew a chair up to the table, and, seating himself, wrote a prescription which he handed to Carmen.
”Have that prepared at once, dear Sister,” he said, ”and give it to your father according to the directions; it will benefit him very much.
You know, Brother Michael, my remedies are very powerful.” A peculiar, sarcastic expression played around his mouth as he spoke, and Carmen, whose quick eye perceived it, wondered what he was ridiculing. Was it her anxiety about her father, or was it the old man's weakness? But it came and went like a flash, and he resumed his usual manner as he rose to leave, saying to Mauer: ”Adieu, Brother. May the Lord keep you and give you a speedy recovery!”
”I will have the medicine prepared at once, father,” said Carmen, heaving a sigh of relief as the door closed behind the physician. But when she looked at the old man, a chill of anguish struck through her heart, for she saw how he had clasped his hands before his face, to hide the big tears which were trickling between his fingers.
Many days pa.s.sed quietly away after Jonathan's visit. Carmen's soothing, cheering influence seemed to have somewhat allayed her father's nervousness, and a calmer, more equable mood seemed to have come over him, as his state of health daily improved. But the nameless shadow of a hidden grief seemed to hang over him. For his wants he needed but little; self-denial and sacrifice had grown to be a second nature to him, his one earthly wish seeming to be to have a house where he and Carmen could live alone together; but as regards others, he was open-handed and generous to help wherever it was needed. It was a very difficult matter to find just the right dwelling to suit his taste, so he finally concluded to build, renting in the meantime a comfortable suite of apartments for himself, while Carmen continued to live as heretofore in the Sisters' house; giving the smaller children a few hour's instruction, and pa.s.sing the rest of the day with her father.
She had regained all her vivacity of manner, for she considered her dear father her protector and support; little guessing that it was, in reality, quite the contrary, as he looked to her as his stay on which to lean. When alone with him, she allowed her naturally gay humor to have full sway, and he would smile contentedly when he heard her exquisite voice warbling forth, now a hymn, now a Spanish love-song, or when he saw her feet, as if inspired, try a half-forgotten Spanish dance, which seemed like a greeting to him from that tropical world where he had loved and suffered. Sometimes she would caress him with pretty, fascinating ways, as if her heart longed to lavish on him all the tenderness which had been gathering intensity during all the long years of separation.
”You are so like Inez! Gay and merry, like her,” he would say with emotion, his eyes beaming with love. Thus she would succeed in charming away, for a few moments at least, the shadow which rested ever on his brow; and this success gave her a pure happiness she had never known before.
As the invalid grew stronger, every one hastened to visit him. The elders wanted a full account of his missionary work in Mongolia, and of the religious condition of the heathen in Bengal and the Himalayas; so Mauer was at last obliged to consent to give a public narration of his experiences. This could not fail to give him a certain degree of importance in the settlement, and it was suggested that he be elected to some public office. But he divested their minds of any such thought, and desired to be allowed a quiet and retired life; he was too modest and reserved to put himself forward at any time, and now anything like publicity was positively painful to him. Even when chatting socially with old friends, he displayed more or less shyness, and especially when Jonathan was present.
”A strange sort of friends.h.i.+p!” thought Carmen, as she noticed how her father never sought the doctor's society, but, on the contrary, seemed to tolerate his company with a kind of bitter endurance, as if he were in some secret way the master and Mauer the slave. Often, when Jonathan addressed him, he would suddenly change color and an involuntary expression of terror pa.s.s over his countenance; then the physician's words would a.s.sume a slightly scornful tone, and Mauer would humbly lower his eyes.
A few days after Jonathan's visit, he inquired how the prescribed medicine had affected him.
”Most beneficially,” replied Mauer. ”I feel stronger in every way.”
”Just as I thought,” said the other, smiling kindly. ”I ordered fifteen drops, but now you can begin to take twenty; that will not be too strong--but positively not more, dear Brother.”
Mauer looked up at him with an expression of keenest anguish, and gasped for breath; while Jonathan continued to smile at him.
No wonder Carmen thought, ”What a strange sort of friends.h.i.+p!”