In Which I Take My Turn at Playing the Invalid
Not for a very long time. They begin again--those recollections--a
few minutes later, break off once more, and then return and break off
alternately, over and over again.
The first thing I remember, after my whirligig flight over the Paris
pavement, is a crowd of faces above me and someone pawing at my collar
and holding my wrist. This someone, a man, a stranger, said in French:
“He is not dead, Mademoiselle.”
And then a voice, a voice that I seemed to recognize, said:
“You are sure, Doctor? You are sure? Oh, thank God!”
I tried to turn my head toward the last speaker--whom I decided, for
some unexplainable reason, must be Hephzy--and to tell her that of
course I wasn't dead, and then all faded away and there was another
blank.
The next interval of remembrance begins with a sense of pain, a
throbbing, savage pain, in my head and chest principally, and a wish
that the buzzing in my ears would stop. It did not stop, on the contrary
it grew louder and there was a squeak and rumble and rattle along with
it. A head--particularly a head bumped as hard as mine had been--might
be expected to buzz, but it should not rattle, or squeak either.
Gradually I began to understand that the rattle and squeak were external
and I was in some sort of vehicle, a sleeping car apparently, for I
seemed to be lying down. I tried to rise and ask a question and a hand
was laid on my forehead and a voice--the voice which I had decided was
Hephzy's--said, gently:
“Lie still. You mustn't move. Lie still, please. We shall be there
soon.”
Where “there” might be I had no idea and it was too much trouble to ask,
so I drifted off again.
Next I was being lifted out of the car; men were lifting me--or trying
to. And, being wider awake by this time, I protested.
“Here! What are you doing?” I asked. “I am all right. Let go of me. Let
go, I tell you.”
Again the voice--it sounded less and less like Hephzy's--saying:
“Don't! Please don't! You mustn't move.”
But I kept on moving, although moving was a decidedly uncomfortable
process.
“What are they doing to me?” I asked. “Where am I? Hephzy, where am I?”
“You are at the hospital. You have been hurt and we are taking you to
the hospital. Lie still and they will carry you in.”
That woke me more thoroughly.
“Nonsense!” I said, as forcefully as I could. “Nonsense! I'm not badly
hurt. I am all right now. I don't want to go to a hospital. I won't go
there. Take me to the hotel. I am all right, I tell you.”
The man's voice--the doctor's, I learned afterward--broke in, ordering
me to be quiet. But I refused to be quiet. I was not going to be taken
to any hospital.
“I am all right,” I declared. “Or I shall be in a little while. Take me
to my hotel. I will be looked after, there. Hephzy will look after me.”
The doctor continued to protest--in French--and I to affirm--in English.
Also I tried to stand. At length my declarations of independence seemed
to have some effect, for they ceased trying to lift me. A dialogue in
French followed. I heard it with growing impatience.
“Hephzy,” I said, fretfully. “Hephzy, make them take me to my hotel. I
insist upon it.”
“Which hotel is it? Kent--Kent, answer me. What is the name of the
hotel?”
I gave the name; goodness knows how I remembered it. There was more
argument, and, after a time, the rattle and buzz and squeak began again.
The next thing I remember distinctly is being carried to my room and
hearing the voice of Monsieur Louis in excited questioning and command.
After that my recollections are clearer. But it was broad daylight when
I became my normal self and realized thoroughly where I was. I was in
my room at the hotel, the sunlight was streaming in at the window and
Hephzy--I still supposed it was Hephzy--was sitting by that window.
And for the first time it occurred to me that she should not have been
there; by all that was right and proper she should be waiting for me in
Interlaken.
“Hephzy,” I said, weakly, “when did you get here?”
The figure at the window rose and came to the bedside. It was not
Hephzy. With a thrill I realized who it was.
“Frances!” I cried. “Frances! Why--what--”
“Hush! You mustn't talk. You mustn't. You must be quiet and keep
perfectly still. The doctor said so.”
“But what happened? How did I get here? What--?”
“Hush! There was an accident; you were hurt. We brought you here in a
carriage. Don't you remember?”
What I remembered was provokingly little.
“I seem to remember something,” I said. “Something about a hospital.
Someone was going to take me to a hospital and I wouldn't go.
Hephzy--No, it couldn't have been Hephzy. Was it--was it you?”
“Yes. We were taking you to the hospital. We did take you there, but as
they were taking you from the ambulance you--”
“Ambulance! Was I in an ambulance? What happened to me? What sort of an
accident was it?”
“Please don't try to talk. You must not talk.”
“I won't if you tell me that. What happened?”
“Don't you remember? I left you and crossed the street. You followed me
and then--and then you stopped. And then--Oh, don't ask me! Don't!”
“I know. Now I do remember. It was that big motor car. I saw it coming.
But who brought me here? You--I remember you; I thought you were Hephzy.
And there was someone else.”
“Yes, the doctor--the doctor they called--and Doctor Bayliss.”
“Doctor Bayliss! Herbert Bayliss, do you mean? Yes, I saw him at the
'Abbey'--and afterward. Did he come here with me?”
“Yes. He was very kind. I don't know what I should have done if it had
not been for him. Now you MUST not speak another word.”
I did not, for a few moments. I lay there, feebly trying to think,
and looking at her. I was grateful to young Bayliss, of course, but I
wished--even then I wished someone else and not he had helped me. I did
not like to be under obligations to him. I liked him, too; he was a good
fellow and I had always liked him, but I did not like THAT.
She rose from the chair by the bed and walked across the room.
“Don't go,” I said.
She came back almost immediately.
“It is time for your medicine,” she said.
I took the medicine. She turned away once more.
“Don't go,” I repeated.
“I am not going. Not for the present.”
I was quite contented with the present. The future had no charms just
then. I lay there, looking at her. She was paler and thinner than she
had been when she left Mayberry, almost as pale and thin as when I first
met her in the back room of Mrs. Briggs' lodging house. And there
was another change, a subtle, undefinable change in her manner and
appearance that puzzled me. Then I realized what it was; she had grown
older, more mature. In Mayberry she had been an extraordinarily pretty
girl. Now she was a beautiful woman. These last weeks had worked the
change. And I began to understand what she had undergone during those
weeks.
“Have you been with me ever since it happened--since I was hurt?” I
asked, suddenly.
“Yes, of course.”
“All night?”
She smiled. “There was very little of the night left,” she answered.
“But you have had no rest at all. You must be worn out.”
“Oh, no; I am used to it. My--” with a slight pause before the
word--“work of late has accustomed me to resting in the daytime. And I
shall rest by and by, when my aunt--when Miss Cahoon comes.”
“Miss Cahoon? Hephzy? Have you sent for her?”
My tone of surprise startled her, I think. She looked at me.
“Sent for her?” she repeated. “Isn't she here--in Paris?”
“She is in Interlaken, at the Victoria. Didn't the concierge tell you?”
“He told us she was not here, at this hotel, at present. He said she
had gone away with some friends. But we took it for granted she was in
Paris. I told them I would stay until she came. I--”
I interrupted.
“Stay until she comes!” I repeated. “Stay--! Why you can't do that! You
can't! You must not!”
“Hush! hush! Remember you are ill. Think of yourself!”
“Of myself! I am thinking of you. You mustn't stay here--with me. What
will they think? What--”
“Hush! hush, please. Think! It makes no difference what they think. If I
had cared what people thought I should not be singing at--Hush! you must
not excite yourself in this way.”
But I refused to hush.
“You must not!” I cried. “You shall not! Why did you do it? They could
have found a nurse, if one was needed. Bayliss--”
“Doctor Bayliss does not know. If he did I should not care. As for the
others--” she colored, slightly,
“Well, I told the concierge that you were my uncle. It was only a white
lie; you used to say you were, you know.”
“Say! Oh, Frances, for your own sake, please--”
“Hush! Do you suppose,” her cheeks reddened and her eyes flashed as I
had seen them flash before, “do you suppose I would go away and leave
you now? Now, when you are hurt and ill and--and--after all that you
have done! After I treated you as I did! Oh, let me do something! Let me
do a little, the veriest little in return. I--Oh, stop! stop! What are
you doing?”
I suppose I was trying to sit up; I remember raising myself on my elbow.
Then came the pain again, the throbbing in my head and the agonizing
pain in my side. And after that there is another long interval in my
recollections.
For a week--of course I did not know it was a week then--my memories
consist only of a series of flashes like the memory of the hours
immediately following the accident. I remember people talking, but not
what they said; I remember her voice, or I think I do, and the touch
of her hand on my forehead. And afterward, other voices, Hephzy's in
particular. But when I came to myself, weak and shaky, but to remain
myself for good and all, Hephzy--the real Hephzy--was in the room with
me.
Even then they would not let me ask questions. Another day dragged by
before I was permitted to do that. Then Hephzy told me I had a cracked
rib and a variety of assorted bruises, that I had suffered slight
concussion of the brain, and that my immediate job was to behave myself
and get well.
“Land sakes!” she exclaimed, “there was a time when I thought you never
was goin' to get well. Hour after hour I've set here and listened
to your gabblin' away about everything under the sun and nothin' in
particular, as crazy as a kitten in a patch of catnip, and thought and
thought, what should I do, what SHOULD I do. And now I KNOW what I'm
goin' to do. I'm goin' to keep you in that bed till you're strong and
well enough to get out of it, if I have to sit on you to hold you down.
And I'm no hummin'-bird when it comes to perchin', either.”
She had received the telegram which Frances sent and had come from
Interlaken post haste.
“And I don't know,” she declared, “which part of that telegram upset me
most--what there was in it or the name signed at the bottom of it. HER
name! I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't stop to believe 'em long. I
just came. And then I found you like this.”
“Was she here?” I asked.
“Who--Frances! My, yes, she was here. So pale and tired lookin' that I
thought she was goin' to collapse. But she wouldn't give in to it.
She told me all about how it happened and what the doctor said and
everything. I didn't pay much attention to it then. All I could think of
was you. Oh, Hosy! my poor boy! I--I--”
“There! there!” I broke in, gently. “I'm all right now, or I'm going to
be. You will have the quahaug on your hands for a while longer. But,”
returning to the subject which interested me most, “what else did she
tell you? Did she tell you how I met her--and where?”
“Why, yes. She's singin' somewhere--she didn't say where exactly, but it
is in some kind of opera-house, I judged. There's a perfectly beautiful
opera-house a little ways from here on the Avenue de L'Opera, right by
the Boulevard des Italiens, though there's precious few Italians there,
far's I can see. And why an opera is a l'opera I--”
“Wait a moment, Hephzy. Did she tell you of our meeting? And how I found
her?”
“Why, not so dreadful much, Hosy. She's acted kind of queer about that,
seemed to me. She said you went to this opera-house, wherever it was,
and saw her there. Then you and she were crossin' the road and one of
these dreadful French automobiles--the way they let the things tear
round is a disgrace--ran into you. I declare! It almost made ME sick
to hear about it. And to think of me away off amongst those mountains,
enjoyin' myself and not knowin' a thing! Oh, it makes me ashamed to look
in the glass. I NEVER ought to have left you alone, and I knew it. It's
a judgment on me, what's happened is.”
“Or on me, I should rather say,” I added. Frances had not told Hephzy of
L'Abbaye, that was evident. Well, I would keep silence also.
“Where is she now?” I asked. I asked it with as much indifference as I
could assume, but Hephzy smiled and patted my hand.
“Oh, she comes every day to ask about you,” she said. “And Doctor
Bayliss comes too. He's been real kind.”
“Bayliss!” I exclaimed. “Is he with--Does he come here?”
“Yes, he comes real often, mostly about the time she does. He hasn't
been here for two days now, though. Hosy, do you suppose he has spoken
to her about--about what he spoke to you?”
“I don't know,” I answered, curtly. Then I changed the subject.
“Has she said anything to you about coming back to Mayberry?” I asked.
“Have you told her how we feel toward her?”
Hephzy's manner changed. “Yes,” she said, reluctantly, “I've told her.
I've told her everything.”
“Not everything? Hephzy, you haven't told her--”
“No, no. Of course I didn't tell her THAT. You know I wouldn't, Hosy.
But I told her that her money havin' turned out to be our money didn't
make a mite of difference. I told her how much we come to think of her
and how we wanted her to come with us and be the same as she had always
been. I begged her to come. I said everything I could say.”
“And she said?”
“She said no, Hosy. She wouldn't consider it at all. She asked me not to
talk about it. It was settled, she said. She must go her way and we ours
and we must forget her. She was more grateful than she could tell--she
most cried when she said that--but she won't come back and if I asked
her again she declared she should have to go away for good.”
“I know. That is what she said to me.”
“Yes. I can't make it out exactly. It's her pride, I suppose. Her mother
was just as proud. Oh, dear! When I saw her here for the first time,
after I raced back from Interlaken, I thought--I almost hoped--but I
guess it can't be.”
I did not answer. I knew only too well that it could not be.
“Does she seem happy?” I asked.
“Why, no; I don't think she is happy. There are times, especially when
you began to get better, when she seemed happier, but the last few times
she was here she was--well, different.”
“How different?”
“It's hard to tell you. She looked sort of worn and sad and discouraged.
Hosy, what sort of a place is it she is singin' in?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“Oh, I don't know. Some things you said when you were out of your head
made me wonder. That, and some talk I overheard her and Doctor Bayliss
havin' one time when they were in the other room--my room--together. I
had stepped out for a minute and when I came back, I came in this door
instead of the other. They were in the other room talkin' and he was
beggin' her not to stay somewhere any more. It wasn't a fit place for
her to be, he said; her reputation would be ruined. She cut him short
by sayin' that her reputation was her own and that she should do as she
thought best, or somethin' like that. Then I coughed, so they would know
I was around, and they commenced talkin' of somethin' else. But it set
me thinkin' and when you said--”
She paused. “What did I say?” I asked.
“Why, 'twas when she and I were here. You had been quiet for a while and
all at once you broke out--delirious you was--beggin' somebody or other
not to do somethin'. For your sake, for their own sake, they mustn't do
it. 'Twas awful to hear you. A mixed-up jumble about Abbie, whoever
she is--not much, by the way you went on about her--and please, please,
please, for the Lord's sake, give it up. I tried to quiet you, but you
wouldn't be quieted. And finally you said: 'Frances! Oh, Frances! don't!
Say that you won't any more.' I gave you your sleepin' drops then; I
thought 'twas time. I was afraid you'd say somethin' that you wouldn't
want her to hear. You understand, don't you, Hosy?”
“I understand. Thank you, Hephzy.”
“Yes. Well, _I_ didn't understand and I asked her if she did. She said
no, but she was dreadfully upset and I think she did understand, in
spite of her sayin' it. What sort of a place is it, this opera-house
where she sings?”
I dodged the question as best I could. I doubt if Hephzy's suspicions
were allayed, but she did not press the subject. Instead she told me I
had talked enough for that afternoon and must rest.
That evening I saw Bayliss for the first time since the accident.
He congratulated me on my recovery and I thanked him for his help in
bringing me to the hotel. He waved my thanks aside.
“Quite unnecessary, thanking me,” he said, shortly. “I couldn't do
anything else, of course. Well, I must be going. Glad you're feeling
more fit, Knowles, I'm sure.”
“And you?” I asked. “How are you?”
“I? Oh, I'm fit enough, I suppose. Good-by.”
He didn't look fit. He looked more haggard and worn and moody than ever.
And his manner was absent and distrait. Hephzy noticed it; there were
few things she did not notice.
“Either that boy's meals don't agree with him,” she announced, “or
somethin's weighin' on his mind. He looks as if he'd lost his last
friend. Hosy, do you suppose he's spoken to--to her about what he spoke
of to you?”
“I don't know. I suppose he has. He was only too anxious to speak, there
in Mayberry.”
“Humph! Well, IF he has, then--Hosy, sometimes I think this, all this
pilgrimage of ours--that's what you used to call it, a pilgrimage--is
goin' to turn out right, after all. Don't it remind you of a book, this
last part of it?”
“A dismal sort of book,” I said, gloomily.
“Well, I don't know. Here are you, the hero, and here's she, the
heroine. And the hero is sick and the heroine comes to take care of
him--she WAS takin' care of you afore I came, you know; and she falls in
love with him and--”
“Yes,” I observed, sarcastically. “She always does--in books. But in
those books the hero is not a middle-aged quahaug. Suppose we stick to
real life and possibilities, Hephzy.”
Hephzy was unconvinced. “I don't care,” she said. “She ought to even if
she doesn't. _I_ fell in love with you long ago, Hosy. And she DID bring
you here after you were hurt and took care of you.”
“Hush! hush!” I broke in. “She took care of me, as you call it, because
she thought it was her duty. She thinks she is under great obligation to
us because we did not pitch her into the street when we first met her.
She insists that she owes us money and gratitude. Her kindness to me and
her care are part payment of the debt. She told me so, herself.”
“But--”
“There aren't any 'buts.' You mustn't be an idiot because I have been
one, Hephzy. We agreed not to speak of that again. Don't remind me of
it.”
Hephzy sighed. “All right,” she said. “I suppose you are right, Hosy.
But--but how is all this goin' to end? She won't go with us. Are we
goin' to leave her here alone?”
I was silent. The same question was in my mind, but I had answered it. I
was NOT going to leave her there alone. And yet--
“If I was sure,” mused Hephzy, “that she was in love with Herbert
Bayliss, then 'twould be all right, I suppose. They would get married
and it would be all right--or near right--wouldn't it, Hosy.”
I said nothing.
The next morning I saw her. She came to inquire for me and Hephzy
brought her into my room for a stay of a minute or two. She seemed glad
to find me so much improved in health and well on the road to recovery.
I tried to thank her for her care of me, for her sending for Hephzy and
all the rest of it, but she would not listen. She chatted about Paris
and the French people, about Monsieur Louis, the concierge, and joked
with Hephzy about that gentleman's admiration for “the wonderful
American lady,” meaning Hephzy herself.
“He calls you 'Madame Cay-hoo-on,'” she said, “and he thinks you a
miracle of decision and management. I think he is almost afraid of you,
I really do.”
Hephzy smiled, grimly. “He'd better be,” she declared. “The way
everybody was flyin' around when I first got here after comin' from
Interlaken, and the way the help jabbered and hunched up their shoulders
when I asked questions made me so fidgety I couldn't keep still. I
wanted an egg for breakfast, that first mornin' and when the waiter
brought it, it was in the shell, the way they eat eggs over here. I
can't eat 'em that way--I'm no weasel--and I told the waiter I wanted an
egg cup. Nigh as I could make out from his pigeon English he was
tellin' me there was a cup there. Well, there was, one of those little,
two-for-a-cent contraptions, just big enough to stick one end of the
egg into. 'I want a big one,' says I. 'We, Madame,' says he, and off
he trotted. When he came back he brought me a big EGG, a duck's egg, I
guess 'twas. Then I scolded and he jabbered some more and by and by he
went and fetched this Monsieur Louis man. He could speak English, thank
goodness, and he was real nice, in his French way. He begged my pardon
for the waiter's stupidness, said he was a new hand, and the like of
that, and went on apologizin' and bowin' and smilin' till I almost had a
fit.
“'For mercy sakes!' I says, 'don't say any more about it. If that last
egg hadn't been boiled 'twould have hatched out an--an ostrich, or
somethin' or other, by this time. And it's stone cold, of course.
Have this--this jumpin'-jack of yours bring me a hot egg--a hen's
egg--opened, in a cup big enough to see without spectacles, and tell
him to bring some cream with the coffee. At any rate, if there isn't
any cream, have him bring some real milk instead of this watery stuff.
I might wash clothes with that, for I declare I think there's bluin'
in it, but I sha'n't drink it; I'd be afraid of swallowin' a fish by
accident. And do hurry!'
“He went away then, hurryin' accordin' to orders, and ever since then
he's been bobbin' up to ask if 'Madame finds everything satisfactory.' I
suppose likely I shouldn't have spoken as I did, he means well--it isn't
his fault, or the waiter's either, that they can't talk without wavin'
their hands as if they were givin' three cheers--but I was terribly
nervous that mornin' and I barked like a tied-up dog. Oh dear, Hosy! if
ever I missed you and your help it's in this blessed country.”
Frances laughed at all this; she seemed just then to be in high spirits;
but I thought, or imagined, that her high spirits were assumed for our
benefit. At the first hint of questioning concerning her own life, where
she lodged or what her plans might be, she rose and announced that she
must go.
Each morning of that week she came, remaining but a short time, and
always refusing to speak of herself or her plans. Hephzy and I, finding
that a reference to those plans meant the abrupt termination of the
call, ceased trying to question. And we did not mention our life at the
rectory, either; that, too, she seemed unwilling to discuss. Once,
when I spoke of our drive to Wrayton, she began a reply, stopped in the
middle of a sentence, and then left the room.
Hephzy hastened after her. She returned alone.
“She was cryin', Hosy,” she said. “She said she wasn't, but she was. The
poor thing! she's unhappy and I know it; she's miserable. But she's so
proud she won't own it and, although I'm dyin' to put my arms around her
and comfort her, I know if I did she'd go away and never come back.
Do you notice she hasn't called me 'Auntie' once. And she always used
to--at the rectory. I'm afraid--I'm afraid she's just as determined as
she was when she ran away, never to live with us again. What SHALL we
do?”
I did not know and I did not dare to think. I was as certain that these
visits would cease very soon as I was that they were the only things
which made my life bearable. How I did look forward to them! And while
she was there, with us, how short the time seemed and how it dragged
when she had gone. The worst thing possible for me, this seeing her and
being with her; I knew it. I knew it perfectly well. But, knowing it,
and realizing that it could not last and that it was but the prelude to
a worse loneliness which was sure to come, made no difference. I dreaded
to be well again, fearing that would mean the end of those visits.
But I was getting well and rapidly. I sat up for longer and longer
periods each day. I began to read my letters now, instead of having
Hephzy read them to me, letters from Matthews at the London office and
from Jim Campbell at home. Matthews had cabled Jim of the accident and
later that I was recovering. So Jim wrote, professing to find material
gain in the affair.
“Great stuff,” he wrote. “Two chapters at least. The hero, pursuing the
villain through the streets of Paris at midnight, is run down by an
auto driven by said villain. 'Ah ha!' says the villain: 'Now will you be
good?' or words to that effect. 'Desmond,' says the hero, unflinchingly,
as they extract the cobble-stones from his cuticle, 'you triumph for the
moment, but beware! there will be something doing later on.' See? If
it wasn't for the cracked rib and the rest I should be almost glad it
happened. All you need is the beautiful heroine nursing you to recovery.
Can't you find her?”
He did not know that I had found her, or that the hoped-for novel was
less likely to be finished than ever.
Hephzy was now able to leave me occasionally, to take the walks which I
insisted upon. She had some queer experiences in these walks.
“Lost again to-day, Hosy,” she said, cheerfully, removing her bonnet. “I
went cruisin' through the streets over to the south'ard and they were so
narrow and so crooked--to say nothin' of bein' dirty and smelly--that I
thought I never should get out. Of course I could have hired a hack
and let it bring me to the hotel but I wouldn't do that. I was set on
findin' my own way. I'd walked in and I was goin' to walk out, that was
all there was to it. 'Twasn't the first time I'd been lost in this Paris
place and I've got a system of my own. When I get to the square 'Place
delay Concorde,' they call it, I know where I am. And 'Concorde' is
enough like Concord, Mass., to make me remember the name. So I walk up
to a nice appearin' Frenchman with a tall hat and whiskers--I didn't
know there was so many chin whiskers outside of East Harniss, or some
other back number place--and I say, 'Pardon, Monseer. Place delay
Concorde?' Just like that with a question mark after it. After I say it
two or three times he begins to get a floatin' sniff of what I'm drivin'
at and says he: 'Place delay Concorde? Oh, we, we, we, Madame!' Then a
whole string of jabber and arm wavin', with some countin' in the middle
of it. Now I've learned 'one, two, three' in French and I know he
means for me to keep on for two or three more streets in the way he's
pointin'. So I keep on, and, when I get there, I go through the whole
rigamarole with another Frenchman. About the third session and I'm back
on the Concord Place. THERE I am all right. No, I don't propose to stay
lost long. My father and grandfather and all my men folks spent their
lives cruisin' through crooked passages and crowded shoals and I guess
I've inherited some of the knack.”
At last I was strong enough to take a short outing in Hephzy's company.
I returned to the hotel, where Hephzy left me. She was going to do a
little shopping by herself. I went to my room and sat down to rest.
A bell boy--at least that is what we should have called him in the
States--knocked at the door.
“A lady to see Monsieur,” he said.
The lady was Frances.
She entered the room and I rose to greet her.
“Why, you are alone!” she exclaimed. “Where is Miss Cahoon?”
“She is out, on a shopping expedition,” I explained. “She will be back
soon. I have been out too. We have been driving together. What do you
think of that!”
She seemed pleased at the news but when I urged her to sit and wait
for Hephzy's return she hesitated. Her hesitation, however, was only
momentary. She took the chair by the window and we chatted together,
of my newly-gained strength, of Hephzy's adventures as a pathfinder in
Paris, of the weather, of a dozen inconsequential things. I found it
difficult to sustain my part in the conversation. There was so much
of real importance which I wanted to say. I wanted to ask her about
herself, where she lodged, if she was still singing at L'Abbaye, what
her plans for the future might be. And I did not dare.
My remarks became more and more disjointed and she, too, seemed uneasy
and absent-minded. At length there was an interval of silence. She broke
that silence.
“I suppose,” she said, “you will be going back to Mayberry soon.”
“Back to Mayberry?” I repeated.
“Yes. You and Miss Cahoon will go back there, of course, now that you
are strong enough to travel. She told me that the American friends with
whom you and she were to visit Switzerland had changed their plans and
were going on to Italy. She said that she had written them that your
proposed Continental trip was abandoned.”
“Yes. Yes, that was given up, of course.”
“Then you will go back to England, will you not?”
“I don't know. We have made no plans as yet.”
“But you will go back. Miss Cahoon said you would. And, when your lease
of the rectory expires, you will sail for America.”
“I don't know.”
“But you must know,” with a momentary impatience. “Surely you don't
intend to remain here in Paris.”
“I don't know that, either. I haven't considered what I shall do. It
depends--that is--”
I did not finish the sentence. I had said more than I intended and it
was high time I stopped. But I had said too much, as it was. She asked
more questions.
“Upon what does it depend?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing. I did not mean that it depended upon anything in
particular. I--”
“You must have meant something. Tell me--answer me truthfully, please:
Does it depend upon me?”
Of course that was just what it did depend upon. And suddenly I
determined to tell her so.
“Frances,” I demanded, “are you still there--at that place?”
“At L'Abbaye. Yes.”
“You sing there every night?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you do it? You know--”
“I know everything. But you know, too. I told you I sang there because
I must earn my living in some way and that seems to be the only place
where I can earn it. They pay me well there, and the people--the
proprietors--are considerate and kind, in their way.”
“But it isn't a fit place for you. And you don't like it; I know you
don't.”
“No,” quietly. “I don't like it.”
“Then don't do it. Give it up.”
“If I give it up what shall I do?”
“You know. Come back with us and live with us as you did before. I want
you; Hephzy is crazy to have you. We--she has missed you dreadfully. She
grieves for you and worries about you. We offer you a home and--”
She interrupted. “Please don't,” she said. “I have told you that that is
impossible. It is. I shall never go back to Mayberry.”
“But why? Your aunt--”
“Don't! My aunt is very kind--she has been so kind that I cannot bear to
speak of her. Her kindness and--and yours are the few pleasant memories
that I have--of this last dreadful year. To please you both I would do
anything--anything--except--”
“Don't make any exceptions. Come with us. If not to Mayberry, then
somewhere else. Come to America with us.”
“No.”
“Frances--”
“Don't! My mind is made up. Please don't speak of that again.”
Again I realized the finality in her tone. The same finality was in mine
as I answered.
“Then I shall stay here,” I declared. “I shall not leave you alone,
without friends or a protector of any kind, to sing night after night in
that place. I shall not do it. I shall stay here as long as you do.”
She was silent. I wondered what was coming next. I expected her to
say, as she had said before, that I was forcing her to give up her one
opportunity. I expected reproaches and was doggedly prepared to meet
them. But she did not reproach me. She said nothing; instead she seemed
to be thinking, to be making up her mind.
“Don't do it, Frances,” I pleaded. “Don't sing there any longer. Give it
up. You don't like the work; it isn't fit work for you. Give it up.”
She rose from her chair and standing by the window looked out into the
street. Suddenly she turned and looked at me.
“Would it please you if I gave up singing at L'Abbaye?” she asked
quietly. “You know it would.”
“And if I did would you and Miss Cahoon go back to England--at once?”
Here was another question, one that I found very hard to answer. I tried
to temporize.
“We want you to come with us,” I said, earnestly. “We want you.
Hephzy--”
“Oh, don't, don't, don't! Why will you persist? Can't you understand
that you hurt me? I am trying to believe I have some self-respect left,
even after all that has happened. And you--What CAN you think of me! No,
I tell you! NO!”
“But for Hephzy's sake. She is your only relative.”
She looked at me oddly. And when she spoke her answer surprised me.
“You are mistaken,” she said. “I have other--relatives. Good-by, Mr.
Knowles.”
She was on her way to the door.
“But, Frances,” I cried, “you are not going. Wait. Hephzy will be here
any moment. Don't go.”
She shook her head.
“I must go,” she said. At the door she turned and looked back.
“Good-by,” she said, again. “Good-by, Kent.”
She had gone and when I reached the door she had turned the corner of
the corridor.
When Hephzy came I told her of the visit and what had taken place.
“That's queer,” said Hephzy. “I can't think what she meant. I don't know
of any other relatives she's got except Strickland Morley's tribe. And
they threw him overboard long, long ago. I can't understand who she
meant; can you, Hosy?”
I had been thinking.
“Wasn't there someone else--some English cousins of hers with whom she
lived for a time after her father's death? Didn't she tell you about
them?”
Hephzy nodded vigorously. “That's so,” she declared. “There was. And
she did live with 'em, too. She never told me their names or where they
lived, but I know she despised and hated 'em. She gave me to understand
that. And she ran away from 'em, too, just as she did from us. I don't
see why she should have meant them. I don't believe she did. Perhaps
she'll tell us more next time she comes. That'll be tomorrow, most
likely.”
I hoped that it might be to-morrow, but I was fearful. The way in which
she had said good-by made me so. Her look, her manner, seemed to imply
more than a good-by for a day. And, though this I did not tell Hephzy,
she had called me “Kent” for the first time since the happy days at the
rectory. I feared--all sorts of things.
She did not come on the morrow, or the following day, or the day after
that. Another week passed and she did not come, nor had we received any
word from her. By that time Hephzy was as anxious and fretful as I.
And, when I proposed going in search of her, Hephzy, for a wonder,
considering how very, very careful she was of my precious health, did
not say no.
“You're pretty close to bein' as well as ever you was, Hosy,” she said.
“And I know how terribly worried you are. If you do go out at night
you may be sick again, but if you don't go and lay awake frettin' and
frettin' about her I KNOW you'll be sick. So perhaps you'd better do it.
Shall I--Sha'n't I go with you?”
“I think you had better not,” I said.
“Well, perhaps you're right. You never would tell me much about this
opera-house, or whatever 'tis, but I shouldn't wonder if, bein' a
Yankee, I'd guessed considerable. Go, Hosy, and bring her back if you
can. Find her anyhow. There! there run along. The hack's down at the
door waitin'. Is your head feelin' all right? You're sure? And you
haven't any pain? And you'll keep wrapped up? All right? Good-by,
dearie. Hurry back! Do hurry back, for my sake. And I hope--Oh, I do
hope you'll bring no bad news.”
L'Abbaye, at eight-thirty in the evening was a deserted place compared
to what it had been when I visited it at midnight. The waiters and
attendants were there, of course, and a few early bird patrons, but not
many. The bearded proprietors, or managers, were flying about, and I
caught one of them in the middle of a flight.
He did not recognize me at first, but when I stated my errand, he did.
Out went his hands and up went his shoulders.
“The Mademoiselle,” he said. “Ah, yes! You are her friend, Monsieur; I
remember perfectly. Oh, no, no, no! she is not here any more. She
has left us. She sings no longer at L'Abbaye. We are desolate; we are
inconsolable. We pleaded, but she was firm. She has gone. Where? Ah,
Monsieur, so many ask that; but alas! we do not know.”
“But you do know where she lives,” I urged. “You must know her home
address. Give me that. It is of the greatest importance that I see her
at once.”
At first he declared that he did not know her address, the address where
she lodged. I persisted and, at last, he admitted that he did know it,
but that he was bound by the most solemn promise to reveal it to no one.
“It was her wish, Monsieur. It was a part of the agreement under which
she sang for us. No one should know who she was or where she lived. And
I--I am an honorable man, Monsieur. I have promised and--” the business
of shoulders and hands again--“my pledged word to a lady, how shall it
be broken?”
I found a way to break it, nevertheless. A trio of gold pieces and the
statement that I was her uncle did the trick. An uncle! Ah, that was
different. And, Mademoiselle had consented to see me when I came before,
that was true. She had seen the young English gentleman also--but we
two only. Was the young English Monsieur--“the Doctor Baylees”--was he a
relative also?
I did not answer that question. It was not his business and, beside, I
did not wish to speak of Herbert Bayliss.
The address which the manager of L'Abbaye gave me, penciled on a card,
was a number in a street in Montmartre, and not far away. I might easily
have walked there, I was quite strong enough for walking now, but I
preferred a cab. Paris motor cabs, as I knew from experience, moved
rapidly. This one bore me to my destination in a few minutes.
A stout middle-aged French woman answered my ring. But her answer to my
inquiries was most unsatisfactory. And, worse than all, I was certain
she was telling me the truth.
The Mademoiselle was no longer there, she said. She had given up
her room three days ago and had gone away. Where? That, alas, was a
question. She had told no one. She had gone and she was not coming back.
Was it not a pity, a great pity! Such a beautiful Mademoiselle! such an
artiste! who sang so sweetly! Ah, the success she had made. And such a
good young lady, too! Not like the others--oh, no, no, no! No one was to
know she lodged there; she would see no one. Ah, a good girl, Monsieur,
if ever one lived.
“Did she--did she go alone?” I asked.
The stout lady hesitated. Was Monsieur a very close friend? Perhaps a
relative?
“An uncle,” I said, telling the old lie once more.
Ah, an uncle! It was all right then. No, Mademoiselle had not gone
alone. A young gentleman, a young English gentleman had gone with her,
or, at least, had brought the cab in which she went and had driven
off in it with her. A young English gentleman with a yellow mustache.
Perhaps I knew him.
I recognized the description. She had left the house with Herbert
Bayliss. What did that mean? Had she said yes to him? Were they married?
I dreaded to know, but know I must.
And, as the one possible chance of settling the question, I bade my cab
driver take me to the Hotel Continental. There, at the desk, I asked if
Doctor Bayliss was still in the hotel. They said he was. I think I must
have appeared strange or the gasp of relief with which I received the
news was audible, for the concierge asked me if I was ill. I said no,
and then he told me that Bayliss was planning to leave the next day, but
was just then in his room. Did I wish to see him? I said I did and gave
them my card.
He came down soon afterward. I had not seen him for a fortnight, for his
calls had ceased even before Frances' last visit. Hephzy had said that,
in her opinion, his meals must be disagreeing with him. Judging by his
appearance his digestion was still very much impaired. He was in evening
dress, of course; being an English gentleman he would have dressed for
his own execution, if it was scheduled to take place after six o'clock.
But his tie was carelessly arranged, his shirt bosom was slightly
crumpled and there was a general “don't care” look about his raiment
which was, for him, most unusual. And he was very solemn. I decided at
once, whatever might have happened, it was not what I surmised. He was
neither a happy bridegroom nor a prospective one.
“Good evening, Bayliss,” said I, and extended my hand.
“Good evening, Knowles,” he said, but he kept his own hands in his
pockets. And he did not ask me to be seated.
“Well?” he said, after a moment.
“I came to you,” I began--mine was a delicate errand and hard to
state--“I came to you to ask if you could tell me where Miss Morley has
gone. She has left L'Abbaye and has given up her room at her lodgings.
She has gone--somewhere. Do you know where she is?”
It was quite evident that he did know. I could see it in his face. He
did not answer, however. Instead he glanced about uneasily and then,
turning, led the way toward a small reception room adjoining the lobby.
This room was, save for ourselves, unoccupied.
“We can be more private here,” he explained, briefly. “What did you
ask?”
“I asked if you knew where Miss Morley had gone and where she was at the
present time?”
He hesitated, pulling at his mustache, and frowning. “I don't see why
you should ask me that?” he said, after a moment.
“But I do ask it. Do you know where she is?”
Another pause. “Well, if I did,” he said, stiffly, “I see no reason
why I should tell you. To be perfectly frank, and as I have said to you
before, I don't consider myself bound to tell you anything concerning
her.”
His manner was most offensive. Again, as at the time I came to him at
that very hotel on a similar errand, after my arrival in Paris, I found
it hard to keep my temper.
“Don't misunderstand me,” I said, as calmly as I could. “I am not
pretending now to have a claim upon Miss Morley. I am not asking you to
tell me just where she is, if you don't wish to tell. And it is not for
my sake--that is, not primarily for that--that I am anxious about her.
It is for hers. I wish you might tell me this: Is she safe? Is she among
friends? Is she--is she quite safe and in a respectable place and likely
to be happy? Will you tell me that?”
He hesitated again. “She is quite safe,” he said, after a moment. “And
she is among friends, or I suppose they are friends. As to her being
happy--well, you ought to know that better than I, it seems to me.”
I was puzzled. “_I_ ought to know?” I repeated. “I ought to know whether
she is happy or not? I don't understand.”
He looked at me intently. “Don't you?” he asked. “You are certain you
don't? Humph! Well, if I were in your place I would jolly well find out;
you may be sure of that.”
“What are you driving at, Bayliss? I tell you I don't know what you
mean.”
He did not answer. He was frowning and kicking the corner of a rug with
his foot.
“I don't understand what you mean,” I repeated. “You are saying too much
or too little for my comprehension.”
“I've said too much,” he muttered. “At all events, I have said all
I shall say. Was there any other subject you wished to see me about,
Knowles? If not I must be going. I'm rather busy this evening.”
“There was no subject but that one. And you will tell me nothing more
concerning Miss Morley?”
“No.”
“Good night,” I said, and turned away. Then I turned back.
“Bayliss,” said I, “I think perhaps I had better say this: I have only
the kindest feelings toward you. You may have misunderstood my attitude
in all this. I have said nothing to prejudice her--Miss Morley against
you. I never shall. You care for her, I know. If she cares for you that
is enough, so far as I am concerned. Her happiness is my sole wish. I
want you to consider me your friend--and hers.”
Once more I extended my hand. For an instant I thought he was going to
take it, but he did not.
“No,” he said, sullenly. “I won't shake hands with you. Why should I?
You don't mean what you say. At least I don't think you do. I--I--By
Jove! you can't!”
“But I do,” I said, patiently.
“You can't! Look here! you say I care for her. God knows I do! But
you--suppose you knew where she was, what would you do? Would you go to
her?”
I had been considering this very thing, during my ride to the lodgings
and on the way to the hotel; and I had reached a conclusion.
“No,” I answered, slowly. “I think I should not. I know she does not
wish me to follow her. I suppose she went away to avoid me. If I were
convinced that she was among friends, in a respectable place, and quite
safe, I should try to respect her wish. I think I should not follow her
there.”
He stared at me, wide-eyed.
“You wouldn't!” he repeated. “You wouldn't! And you--Oh, I say! And you
talked of her happiness!”
“It is her happiness I am thinking of. If it were my own I should--”
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing. She will be happier if I do not follow her, I
suppose. That is enough for me.”
He regarded me with the same intent stare.
“Knowles,” he said, suddenly, “she is at the home of a relative of
hers--Cripps is the name--in Leatherhead, England. There! I have told
you. Why I should be such a fool I don't know. And now you will go
there, I suppose. What?”
“No,” I answered. “No. I thank you for telling me, Bayliss, but it shall
make no difference. I will respect her wish. I will not go there.”
“You won't!”
“No, I will not trouble her again.”
To my surprise he laughed. It was not a pleasant laugh, there was more
sarcasm than mirth in it, or so it seemed, but why he should laugh at
all I could not understand.
“Knowles,” he said, “you're a good fellow, but--”
“But what?” I asked, stiffly.
“You're no end of a silly ass in some ways. Good night.”
He turned on his heel and walked off.