Part 38 (1/2)
”But, doctor, what you said to me surely applies to yourself also?”
Cyril said, with a smile.
”I know that,” the doctor said good-humouredly, ”and expected it, but it is not for a doctor to choose. He is not free, like other men; he has adopted a vocation in which it is his first duty to go among the sick, whatever their ailment may be, to do all that he can for them, and if, as in the present case, he can do practically nothing else, to set them an example of calmness and fearlessness. Still, for a time, at any rate, I shall be able to go no more into houses where the Plague is raging. 'Tis more than a month since you were cured, yet you are still a mere shadow of what you were. I had a much harder fight with the enemy, and cannot walk across the room yet without William's help. Therefore, it will be a fortnight or three weeks yet before I can see patients, and much longer before I shall have strength to visit them in their houses. By that time I trust that the Plague will have very greatly abated. Thus, you see, I shall not be called upon to stand face to face with it for some time. Those who call upon me here are seldom Plague-stricken. They come for other ailments, or because they feel unwell, and are nervous lest it should be the beginning of an attack; but of late I have had very few come here. My patients are mostly of the middle cla.s.s, and these have either fled or fallen victims to the Plague, or have shut themselves up in their houses like fortresses, and nothing would tempt them to issue abroad. Therefore, I expect that I shall have naught to do but to gain strength again. Come here when you will, lad, and the oftener the better. Conversation is the best medicine for both of us, and as soon as I can I will visit you. I doubt not that John Wilkes has many a story of the sea that will take our thoughts away from this sad city. Bring him with you sometimes; he is an honest fellow, and the talk of sailors so smacks of the sea that it seems almost to act as a tonic.”
Cyril stayed for an hour, and promised to return on the following evening. He said, however, that he was sure John Wilkes would not accompany him.
”He never leaves the house unless I am in it. He considers himself on duty; and although, as I tell him, there is little fear of anyone breaking in, seeing how many houses with much more valuable and more portable goods are empty and deserted, he holds to his purpose, saying that, even with the house altogether empty, it would be just as much his duty to remain in charge.”
”Well, come yourself, Cyril. If we cannot get this old watch-dog out I must wait until I can go to him.”
”I shall be very glad to come, doctor, for time hangs heavily on my hands. John Wilkes spends hours every day in was.h.i.+ng and scrubbing decks, as he calls it, and there are but few books in the house.”
”As to that, I can furnish you, and will do so gladly. Go across to the shelves there, and choose for yourself.”
”Thank you very much indeed, sir. But will you kindly choose for me?
I have read but few English books, for of course in France my reading was entirely French.”
”Then take Shakespeare. I hold his writings to be the finest in our tongue. I know them nearly by heart, for there is scarce an evening when I do not take him down for an hour, and reading him I forget the worries and cares of my day's work, which would otherwise often keep me from sleep. 'Tis a bulky volume, but do not let that discourage you; it is full of wit and wisdom, and of such romance that you will often find it hard to lay it down. Stay--I have two editions, and can well spare one of them, so take the one on that upper shelf, and keep it when you have read it. There is but little difference between them, but I generally use the other, and have come to look upon it as a friend.”
”Nay, sir, I will take it as a loan.”
”You will do nothing of the sort. I owe you a fee, and a b.u.mping one.”
Henceforth Cyril did not find his time hang heavy on his hands. It seemed to him, as he sat at the window and read, that a new world opened to him. His life had been an eminently practical one. He had studied hard in France, and when he laid his books aside his time had been spent in the open air. It was only since he had been with Captain Dave that he had ever read for amus.e.m.e.nt, and the Captain's library consisted only of a few books of travels and voyages. He had never so much as dreamt of a book like this, and for the next few days he devoured its pages.
”You are not looking so well, Cyril,” Dr. Hodges said to him abruptly one day.
”I am doing nothing but reading Shakespeare, doctor.”
”Then you are doing wrong, lad. You will never build yourself up unless you take exercise.”
”The streets are so melancholy, doctor, and whenever I go out I return sick at heart and in low spirits.”
”That I can understand, lad. But we must think of something,” and he sat for a minute or two in silence. Then he said suddenly, ”Do you understand the management of a boat?”
”Yes, doctor; it was my greatest pleasure at Dunkirk to be out with the fishermen.”
”That will do, then. Go down at once to the riverside. There are hundreds of boats lying idle there, for there are no pa.s.sengers and no trade, and half of their owners are dead. You are sure to see some men there; having nothing else to do, some will be hanging about. Say you want to hire a boat for a couple of months or to buy one. You will probably get one for a few s.h.i.+llings. Get one with a sail as well as oars. Go out the first thing after breakfast, and go up or down the river as the tide or wind may suit. Take some bread and meat with you, and don't return till supper-time. Then you can spend your evenings with Shakespeare. Maybe I myself will come down and take a sail with you sometimes. That will bring the colour back into your cheeks, and make a new man of you. Would that I had thought of it before!”
Cyril was delighted with the idea, and, going down to Blackfriars, bought a wherry with a sail for a pound. Its owner was dead, but he learned where the widow lived, and effected the bargain without difficulty, for she was almost starving.
”I have bought it,” he said, ”because it may be that I may get it damaged or sunk; but I only need it for six weeks or two months, and at the end of that time I will give it you back again. As soon as the Plague is over there will be work for boats, and you will be able to let it, or to sell it at a fair price.”
John Wilkes was greatly pleased when Cyril came back and told him what he had done.
”That is the very thing for you,” he said. ”I have been a thick-head not to think of it. I have been worrying for the last week at seeing you sit there and do nothing but read, and yet there seemed nothing else for you to do, for ten minutes out in the streets is enough to give one the heartache. Maybe I will go out for a sail with you myself sometimes, for there is no fear of the house being broken into by daylight.”