“Miss Williams,” said I, “do you think we can furnish a bedroom by
to-night, so as to take in a gentleman who is ill?”
Never have I so admired that wonderful woman’s self-command.
“Why, easily, sir, if the patients will only let me alone. But with that
bell going thirty times an hour, it’s hard to say what you are going to
do.”
This with her funny manner set the ladies laughing, and the whole
business seemed lighter and easier. I promised to have the room ready
by eight o’clock. Mrs. La Force arranged to bring her son round at that
hour, and both ladies thanked me a very great deal more than I deserved;
for after all it was a business matter, and a resident patient was the
very thing that I needed. I was able to assure Mrs. La Force that I
had had a similar case under my charge before--meaning, of course, poor
“Jimmy,” the son of Lord Saltire. Miss Williams escorted them to the
door, and took occasion to whisper to them that it was wonderful how I
got through with it, and that I was within sight of my carriage.
It was a short notice, but we got everything ready by the hour. Carpet,
bed, suite, curtains--all came together, and were fixed in their places
by the united efforts of Miss Williams, Paul, and myself. Sharp at eight
a cab arrived, and Fred was conducted by me into his bedroom. The moment
I looked at him I could see that he was much worse than when I saw him
with Dr. Porter. The chronic brain trouble had taken a sudden acute
turn.
His eyes were wild, his cheeks flushed, his lips drawn slightly away
from his teeth. His temperature was 102 deg., and he muttered to himself
continually, and paid no attention to my questions. It was evident to me
at a glance that the responsibility which I had taken upon myself was to
be no light one.
However, we could but do our best. I undressed him and got him safely
to bed, while Miss Williams prepared some arrowroot for his supper. He
would eat nothing, however, but seemed more disposed to dose, so having
seen him settle down we left him. His room was the one next to mine,
and as the wall was thin, I could hear the least movement. Two or three
times he muttered and groaned, but finally he became quiet, and I was
able to drop to sleep.
At three in the morning, I was awakened by a dreadful crash. Bounding
out of bed I rushed into the other room. Poor Fred was standing in his
long gown, a pathetic little figure in the grey light of the dawning
day. He had pulled over his washing-stand (with what object only his
bemuddled mind could say), and the whole place was a morass of water
with islands of broken crockery. I picked him up and put him back into
his bed again--his body glowing through his night-dress, and his eyes
staring wildly about him. It was evidently impossible to leave him, and
so I spent the rest of the night nodding and shivering in the armchair.
No, it was certainly not a sinecure that I had undertaken.
In the morning I went round to Mrs. La Force and gave her a bulletin.
Her brother had recovered his serenity now that the patient had left.
He had the Victoria Cross it seems, and was one of the desperate little
garrison who held Lucknow in that hell-whirl of a mutiny. And now the
sudden opening of a door sets him shaking, and a dropped tongs gives him
palpitations. Are we not the strangest kind of beings?
Fred was a little better during the day, and even seemed in a dull
sort of way to recognise his sister, who brought him flowers in the
afternoon. Towards evening his temperature sank to 101.5@, and he
fell into a kind of stupor. As it happened, Dr. Porter came in about
supper-time, and I asked him if he would step up and have a look at my
patient. He did so, and we found him dozing peacefully. You would hardly
think that that small incident may have been one of the most momentous
in my life. It was the merest chance in the world that Porter went up at
all.
Fred was taking medicine with a little chloral in it at this time. I
gave him his usual dose last thing at night; and then, as he seemed to
be sleeping peacefully, I went to my own room for the rest which I badly
needed. I did not wake until eight in the morning, when I was roused
by the jingling of a spoon in a saucer, and the step of Miss Williams
passing my door. She was taking him the arrowroot which I had ordered
over-night. I heard her open the door, and the next moment my heart
sprang into my mouth as she gave a hoarse scream, and her cup and saucer
crashed upon the floor. An instant later she had burst into my room,
with her face convulsed with terror.
“My God!” she cried, “he’s gone!”