Part 39 (1/2)
The senior warden stared in silence at her plump hand, shaking and trembling on his knee. Dr. Lavendar did not urge any word of resignation. He sat beside the stricken pair, hearing the mother's pitiful babble, looking at the father's bent gray head, saying what he could of Sam--his truthfulness, his good nature, his kindness. ”I remember once he spent a whole afternoon making a splint for Danny's leg. And it was a good splint,” said Dr. Lavendar. Alas! how little he could find to say of the young creature who was a stranger to them all!
Dr. Lavendar stayed with them until noon. He had been summoned just as he was sitting down to breakfast, and he had gone instantly, leaving Mary wringing her hands at the double distress of a dreadful calamity and Dr. Lavendar's going without his breakfast. When he saw William King he asked no questions, except:
”Who will tell his grandfather?”
But of course there was only one person to tell Mr. Benjamin Wright, and Dr. Lavendar knew it. ”But you must come with me, William; Benjamin is very frail.”
”Yes;” said William King; ”only you've got to have something to eat first.”
And that gave Dr. Lavendar the chance to ask Mrs. Wright for some breakfast, which made her stop crying, poor soul, for a little while.
As Goliath pulled them slowly up the hill, William told part of his part of the story. He had dropped in to the Wrights' the night before to say how-do-you-do. ”It was nearly ten. I only stayed a few minutes; then I went off. I had got as far as the gate, and I was--was fixing my lantern, and I thought I heard a shot. And I said--'_What's that?_'
And I stood there, sort of holding my breath, you know; I couldn't believe it was a shot. And then they called. When I got to the house, it was all over. It was instantaneous. Samuel told me that Sam had been fooling with his revolver, and--”
”Yes;” said Dr. Lavendar; ”that's what Eliza told me.”
Both men were silent. Then Dr. Lavendar said ”Will it kill Benjamin?”
”I don't know. I don't know;” the doctor said, sighing. ”Oh, Dr.
Lavendar, why does the Lord hit the innocent over the guilty's shoulder? The boy is out of it; but his father and mother and grandfather, and--and others, they have got to bear it.”
”Why, w.i.l.l.y, my boy,” said Dr. Lavendar, ”that's where the comfort of it is. It means we're all one--don't you see? If we suffer in the boy's suffering or wrong-doing, it is because we and he are one in Christ Jesus.”
”Yes, sir,” said William respectfully. But he did not understand.
When they reached The Top, it seemed to take them a long time to hitch Goliath. It was Dr. Lavendar who got himself together first and said calmly, ”Come, William.”
The front door was open, and the two bearers of heavy news entered unannounced. Benjamin Wright was in the dining-room, where the shutters were bowed to keep out the heat. He had taken off his hat, and was pottering about among his canaries, scolding Simmons and swearing at the weather. Dr. Lavendar and William, coming from the white glare of suns.h.i.+ne, could hardly distinguish him as he shuffled back and forth among the shadows, except when he crossed the strip of dazzling green light between the bowed shutters, Dr. Lavendar stopped on the threshold; William stood a little behind him.
Mr. Wright was declaiming sonorously:
”--Did you ever see the Devil, With his wooden leg and shovel, A-scratching up the gravel--”
He paused to stick a cuttlefish between the bars of a cage, and catching sight of the first figure, instantly began to snarl a reproach:
”I might have been in my grave for all you know, Edward Lavendar; except you'd have had to 'give hearty thanks for the good example' of the deceased. What a humbug the burial service is--hey? Same thing for an innocent like me, or for a senior warden. Come in. Simmons!
Whiskey”--
He stopped short; William had moved in the shadows. ”Why, that's w.i.l.l.y King,” he said; and dropped the cuttlefish. ”Something's wrong. Two black coats at this hour of the day mean something. Well! Out with it!
What's happened?”
”Benjamin,” said Dr, Lavendar, coming into the room, ”Sam's Sam--”
”Keep w.i.l.l.y King out!” commanded the very old man in a high, peevish voice. ”I'm not going to die of it. He's--killed himself? Well; it's my fault. I angered him,” He took up his hat, clutching the brim with shaking hands and pulling it fiercely down over his eyes. ”Keep w.i.l.l.y off! I'm not--I'm not--”
Simmons caught him as he lurched back into a chair, and Dr. Lavendar bent over him, his old face moving with tears.
”It was an accident, Benjamin, either of the body or the soul--it doesn't matter which.”
William King, standing behind the chair that held the forlorn and quivering heap, ventured gently: ”Samuel says that Sam was cleaning his pistol, and--”