Part 112 (1/2)

She slid to her knees at his feet, took the hand that hung by his side and began to cover it with kisses. ”Forgive me,” she said; ”I have been very weak and very guilty.”

”What's the use of talking like that?” he answered. ”What's past is past,” and he drew his hand away. ”No child now, no child now,” he muttered again, as though his dispair cried out to G.o.d.

He was feeling like a man wrecked in mid-ocean. A spar came floating towards him. It was all he could lay hold of from the foundering s.h.i.+p, in which he had sailed, and sung, and laughed, and slept. He had thought to save his life by it, but another man was clinging to it, and he had to drop it and go down.

She could not look into his face again; she could not touch his hand; she could not ask for his forgiveness. He stood over her for a moment without speaking, and then, with his hollow cheeks, and deep eyes, and ragged heard, he went away in the morning sunlight.

XII.

Phillip fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke, he saw, as in a mirror, a solution to the tumultuous drama of his life. It was a glorious solution, a liberating and redeeming end, an end bringing freedom from the bonds which had beset him. What matter if it was hard; if it was difficult; if it was bitter as Marah and steep as Calvary? He was ready, he was eager. Oh, blessed sleep! Oh, wise and soothing sleep I It had rent the dark cloud of his past and given the flash of light that illumined the path before him.

He opened his eyes and saw Auntie Nan seated by his side, reading a volume of sermons. At the change in his breathing the old dove looked round, dropped the book, and began to flutter about. ”Hush, dearest, hus.h.!.+” she whispered.

There was a heavy, monotonous sound, like the beating of a distant drum or the throb of an engine under the earth.

”Auntie!”--”Yes, dearest.”

”What day is it?”

”Sunday. Oh, you've had a long, long sleep, Philip. You slept all day yesterday.”

”Is that the church-bell ringing?”

”Yes, dear, and a fine morning, too--so soft and springlike. I'll open the window.”

”Then my hearing must be injured.”

”Ah! they m.u.f.fled the bell--that's it. 'The church is so near,' they said, 'it might trouble him.'”

A carriage was coming down the road. It rattled on the paved way; then the rattling ceased, and there was a dull rumble as of a cart sliding on to a wooden bridge. ”That horse has fallen,” said Philip, trying to rise.

”It's only the straw on the street,” said Auntie Nan. ”The people brought it from all parts. 'We must deaden the traffic by the house,'

they said. Oh, you couldn't think how good they've been. Yesterday was market-day, but there was no business done. Couldn't have been; they were coming and going the whole day long. 'And how's the Deemster now?'

'And how's he now?' It was fit to make you cry. I believe in my heart, Philip, n.o.body in Ramsey went to bed the first night at all. Everybody waiting and waiting to see if there wasn't something to fetch, and the kettle kept boiling in every kitchen round about. But hush, dearest, hus.h.!.+ Not so much talking all at once. Hush, now!”

”Where is Pete?” asked Philip, his face to the wall.

”Oiling the hinges of the door, dearest. He was laying carpets on the stairs all day yesterday. But never the sound of a hammer. The man's wonderful. He must have hands like iron. His heart's soft enough, though. But then everybody is so kind--everybody, everybody! The doctor, and the vicar, and the newspapers--oh, it's beautiful! It's just as Pete was saying.”

”What was Pete saying, Auntie?”

”He was saying the angels must think there's somebody sick in every house in the island.”

A sound of singing came through the open window, above the whisper of young leaves and the twitter of birds. It was the psalm that was being sung in church--

”Blessed is the man that considereth the poor and needy; The Lord shall deliver him in time of trouble.”

”Listen, Philip. That must be a special psalm. I'm sure they're singing it for you. How sweet of them! But we are talking too much, dear. The doctor will scold. I must leave you now, Philip. Only for a little, though, while I go back to Bal lure, and I'll send up Cottier.”