Walking away to a rose-bush, she plucked a bud and returned slowly, as
if to hide some emotion. It was quite time to comfort her.
"Joy," I said, taking her hand and bringing her to the steps again, "I
have been doing a good deal of thinking, and I have a theory that I'd
like to prove. I'd rather not say anything about it till I'm sure of
it, but when I am, I'll tell you. Have I your permission to use my own
judgment, even to the point, perhaps, of eavesdropping?"
"Oh, is that necessary, do you think?" She clasped her hands nervously
at the thought. "I don't know. It's all so mixed up in my mind. Who
can settle the ethics of a case like this?"
"It may come to a fight between you and Edna, I think."
"Oh, that's what it _has_ come to!" she exclaimed. "That's what is
killing me. Who is Edna? Where did she come from? Where does she
belong? I must be fair--I want to be just to her, however she treats
me. If I could only see her or hear her--if we could only communicate in
some way, there might be an agreement. But she's like a ghost--a
character in a book. Is she a different person, or only some phase of
myself? Dare I come into open conflict with her? Why, I may be only
destroying myself! I have to be _she_, don't I? Shan't I have to bear
whatever I do to her? How do I know what danger may lie in any action I
may take?"
"Yes," I replied, "I've thought of all that. I'm convinced that, as the
doctor says, it's only a case of 'waking you up.' It's as if you were a
somnambulist--walking in your sleep--dreaming half the time,
irresponsibly. To wake you up may be uncomfortable for her. It may be
like a surgical operation that she has to suffer, but when it's over
you'll regain your health and reason, and, by the same token, so will
she, and you'll forget all the pain. However, it hasn't come to that
yet. What I want, now, is the right to explore, investigate, examine,
experiment, perhaps, and then, when I have decided for myself, we can
decide what course to adopt. If you're the White Cat, I'm going to be
the Prince, and save you!"
She took my hand and pressed it affectionately.
"I trust you, Chester, and I'll agree to anything you think best. I
feel as if I were being drawn into a maelstrom. Oh, what wouldn't I
give to be just a normal, natural person, like every one else! Why am I
tormented so? Yes, you _must_ help me, Prince!"
"Well, then, now we'll talk no more of it for a while. Let's forget it,
and go and see the collies."
Her face cleared and she sprang up, tossed back her head with her
characteristic gesture and went with me to the stable. The dogs were
all out in the sun, and as soon as we appeared they surrounded us
joyfully. Nokomis walked up to Joy in her stately way and offered a paw.
"Why, Nokomis!" Joy exclaimed, "how did you get this awful cut on your
head! We must attend to it immediately! Chester, won't you go in and
get me some water and some salve? Leah will give them to you."
When I came back she was sitting on the ground with the dog's head on
her lap. Nokomis' deep brown, soft eyes looked up gratefully while the
wound was washed and dressed. The tears actually came to my eyes at the
sight. The scene of yesterday, when these two were arrayed against each
other, seemed impossible. It should go without saying that I made no
mention of it to Joy, for it was evident that she had no idea of Edna's
treatment of the collies.
"Now, Nokomis," Joy said, getting up and shaking the dust off her skirt,
"listen! I want you to go in the _house_ and get my _golf-jacket_, and
_bring_ it to me." She spoke very distinctly, accenting the important
words. Nokomis trotted to the kitchen door, barked sharply, and was
admitted.
"I'm educating her," Joy explained to me. "I want to see how far I can
get her to understand what I say. This is rather a test, for there are
at least three related ideas, the house, the jacket and bringing it
back. But she's extraordinary at picking up words; she has really quite
a vocabulary. Of course, you hear a good many stories of the
intelligence of collies, but I've never heard of their being
systematically trained except in a utilitarian way. I'm experimenting
with more and more complex ideas. I hate the ordinary dog tricks;
they're undignified and unworthy. I'm tremendously interested in animal
psychology. Queer, isn't it, when I can't even handle my own!"
Nokomis appeared, in a distressed frame of mind, and whined.
"Well, Noko, what's the matter! Can't you find it?"
Nokomis barked, ran a few steps towards the house, and returned.
"All right, we'll go in and see what's the matter."
So we followed her into the house. The red golf-coat that Edna had worn
yesterday was hanging upon a hat-stand in the hall. Nokomis went to it,
shook it with her teeth, turned round and whined. It was as near
talking as a dog could do.
"Oh, I see," said Joy. "You got the house and the coat all right, but
you thought I meant just to come back, did you? No, _bring_, Nokomis,
_bring, bring, bring_!" As she spoke, she placed the jacket in Nokomis'
teeth and showed her what was meant. "Next time you'll know, won't you?"
she said.
"Now we'll try your number lesson," Joy said as we went back to the
stable. She and I sat down on a watering-trough, while Nokomis waited,
her head tipped, her ears straight up, with the soft silky tips drooping
like tassels. Her sloping eyes were quick and canny.
"One!" said Joy.
A single bark from Nokomis.
"Two!"
Correct, again.
"Three!"
Still correct.
"Four!"
Nokomis was perfect.
"Five!"
Four barks, then, after a pause, another.
"Six!"
This was too much for the collie. She barked, I think, eight times,
having quite lost her head.
"Pretty good, isn't it?" said Joy, as I congratulated Nokomis--on the
neck, at the spot dogs love. "This is straight culture, you know, no
trick. I don't give her any sign, as they do stage dogs. I'm just
trying to see how far she can go. I've begun, too, to teach her colors,
but I haven't succeeded very well."
"It's immensely interesting," I said. "I wonder why collies are so much
more intelligent than other dogs."
"They aren't. Caniches are fully as bright, but collies have been
trained for generations with the sheep, and it has raised the level of
perception. That's why I try to keep up their education, for of course
they'll deteriorate if they're only bred for exhibition purposes. But
the training of the shepherds isn't everything. My theory is that the
reason why a collie is quicker is because his eyes are trained. Most
dogs, you know, won't use their eyes if they can use their noses or
their ears. Hunting dogs will run past quarry that's in plain sight,
following a scent without looking. A collie has to watch his sheep
sharply, and his eye is developed. Their ears have been trained, too,
by the shepherds."
"How long would Nokomis keep this up, obeying your orders?"
Nokomis, who had been resting inattentively, looked up immediately.
"As long as I asked her to--wouldn't you, old girl?" Joy rubbed the
dog's neck with her toe. "A dog's chief joy is to be in some way, in as
many ways as possible, a part of his master. I never knew Nokomis to
tire of doing anything that kept up and accented that relation. It is
the mainspring of a good dog's life--it accounts for a dog's devotion.
It's trite enough to say, but there is no love on earth so sure as a
dog's love. It's unending! it's unchangeable!"
Did Nokomis know, as she watched her mistress there, of that strange
soul that stole into the girl's form at night? Did she answer for
herself instinctively, with an animal's secret prescience, the question
that Joy had asked in anguish--"Who is Edna?" The thought came into my
mind as I heard Joy's words, pathetic in their unconsciousness of how
the love of Nokomis waxed and waned with her own obsession. Surely
Nokomis was loyal and true. Surely she had never betrayed her mistress'
confidence. Perhaps the collie alone knew the secret of the White Cat.
We took Nokomis with us, and walked over the hill as we had walked the
day before. "We," I say, for, had any spectator been on the hillside to
watch us pass on both days he could have seen no difference in the
couple. With me was the same gracile creature abounding with life and
beauty, the same small, brown-haired, brown-eyed woman with the
flower-like hands.
But I need not say how different she was in talk, in gesture, in her
mental attitude toward me. Yet, though I have shown Joy as intense,
even as melancholy, this was not her natural quality. She could be as
gay and debonair as Edna, but it was vivacity of a different key. Her
laugh was as light and ringing, but it was provoked by other occasions.
Her sallies were as joyous, but they sparkled with wit and
comprehension. She was as frank, but she was keen as well. So it was not
so much the sunny-dewy as against the quiet-shadowy, as it was April
rivaled by June.
After luncheon with Leah, we went up to Joy's private sitting-room, or
study, as she called it--and it was really that, as I saw by the books
which lined its walls. She had indeed time enough to read them! It was
a woman's room, but it was expressive of virility as well as taste.
Like most of the other rooms, except the sleeping chambers and the
dining-room, it was paneled to the ceiling--Joy confessed that she
disliked plaster even when covered with paper. The wood here was a
beautifully grained poplar and the general air of lightness and coolness
was helped by the high, irregular, ceiled roof whose beams and ties
stretched across from wall to wall. The ship-like bay-window which I
had noticed from the outside was a nest of cushions of all colors of the
rainbow--I speak literally--varying from violet, through blue, green,
yellow and orange to red and purple again. There was a great table here
where I saw a large microscope and case of slides. An upright piano
stood in a corner. I noticed also a typewriter, and a camera on a
tripod. The place had an air of work and study quite different from
Edna's clutter and disorder. It showed me in a glance how it had been
possible for her to live alone, so far away from civilization.
Here we spent the afternoon discussing her condition and prospects. She
asked me much about Edna, for, though she had always been kept informed
of Edna's actions by Leah, and had attained by this time a pretty good
comprehension of her alternate's character, she was much interested in
my opinions and conclusions, and I was able to cast new lights upon this
second self of hers which gave her a new point of view. I could not yet
bring myself to speak of Edna's coquetries, for of this she had no
suspicion. There had been few visitors to Midmeadows since she had
lived there, only the doctor and her lawyer, I believe; for she had, of
late years, become more and more retiring as Edna's appearances had
become more frequent.
Whatever indiscretions Edna had permitted herself with the doctor had
been well concealed, as they were so much alone. I myself would never
have suspected anything, had she not been free enough with me to set me
on the watch. And all this sort of thing, too, had evidently been only
of recent growth--it was coincident with Edna's increasing "strength."
I don't think that either Leah or I had, for an instant, any compunction
on Edna's account against informing Joy of what might be going on. We
were loyal to Joy alone--it seemed unquestionable that she was the
rightful sovereign self, and that the other was an interloper--our
devotion did not hesitate at any violation of confidence incident to
such a revelation. But we wanted to spare Joy's feelings as long as
possible. For, under whatever spell, it was still Miss Fielding whose
actions we must criticize. Irresponsible as she was, she could hardly
bear to think of herself as appearing in such a light, knowing what the
picture must be in our eyes, and her own. Indeed, it takes a more than
ordinary amount of philosophy to know that one has shown a lack of taste
or delicacy even under the effects of an anesthetic or an intoxicant,
without suffering from mortification and shame. Her embarrassment would
be quite as poignant as her sensibility was exquisite.
Joy had kept a diagram of her changes, and she got it out from her desk
to show me. The first appearance of No. 2 had occurred when she was
about fourteen years old; the second a month or so later, and there had
been this usual interval until she was about twenty-one. From that time
on, the appearance of No. 2 had increased in frequency, until for the
last few years it had settled into a fairly regular average of two days
in every week. There had been in her early childhood, beginning when
she was seven years old, some curious abnormal tendencies that had not
been recorded; it seemed, therefore, that her development was
progressing, roughly, in seven-year cycles.
If that were so, the present daily alternation of personalities seemed
to predict a gradual overthrow of her normal self, the original No. 1.
The more I discussed it with her, however, the surer I was that this
sudden access of strength on the part of Edna was chiefly attributable
to the doctor's influence. I did not say so in so many words to Joy,
for I wanted first to prepare my plan, but there was no doubt, in my
mind, that whatever was his object in overthrowing Joy's control, and
making Edna paramount, my coming had somewhat interfered with his
experiments, and he had consequently increased his energy in a
determination to succeed as soon as possible in his attempt at the
replacement. How terrible this slow eclipse of her soul must be to Joy,
I knew well enough.
It is hardly to be wondered at, therefore, that, thrown into intimate
contact with so beautiful and so rare a character, I should bend all my
will and powers toward helping her in her misfortune. I had decided
already to make any sacrifice, and devote all my time to the task. Nor
is it to be wondered at, I think, that, so devoting myself to her cause
and being so privileged to study her closely, I should, by this time,
have fallen deeply in love with her. Her very desperation, her
hopeless, futile struggle against something outside any ordinary human
experience drew me to her with an ever-increasing fondness. Her
reliance on my aid strengthened the bond day by day, hour by hour. How
much the doctor's interest in her had given me the additional fillip of
jealousy, I would not care to say.
We came back to the incident of the gold chain more than once. What did
that phenomenon mean? It was almost the first, and certainly the
strongest and clearest symptom of a common share in Edna's life that Joy
had ever had. Was it, then, Joy's dim vision of Edna's experience, or
was it more sinister and significant, an evidence of Edna's ability to
project herself into Joy's waking life? Did Edna, perhaps, have a
coexistent, subconscious life? That it meant something, that it marked
some new phase in this last cycle of development, we were both sure.
So we talked and talked that afternoon and through dinner. In the
evening, exhausted with speculation, we gave it all up. Joy played her
violin for me for an hour or so, and we lost all thought of the problem
in our common enjoyment of her music. Then we started a game of chess,
which, hard fought, lasted till bed-time.
Before we retired, Joy went out to see the dogs, and on returning she
brought in Nokomis.
"I think I'll let her sleep in my room to-night, Leah, she's got such a
poor, sore head," she remarked.
Leah looked at me as if to ask my help or advice.
"Aren't you afraid that--Edna may object in the morning, if she should
be there?" I asked.
Instantly her suspicions were aroused. "Object to Nokomis! Dear old
Nokomis, how could she!"
Nokomis whined anxiously, stretched her forelegs and waited.
I did not know what to say. Joy knew, of course, that Edna was not
particularly fond of the collies, but she had no idea of the extent of
her dislike. There was, I feared, some danger if, after what had
happened yesterday, Edna and Nokomis found themselves together in the
same room. Still, I wished to spare Joy, as long as possible, knowledge
that would, I was sure, make her extremely sad. As Leah had tacitly
left it for me to decide, I said:
"Leah, can't you call Nokomis out early in the morning, before Miss
Fielding awakes--in case----"
"Yes, I think it will be all right," she replied.
If Joy suspected anything definite in this quick exchange of glances she
did not inquire. She turned to bid me good night, and went up-stairs,
Nokomis with her.
*V*
I was aroused in the night by a growling in Miss Fielding's room. Wide
awake in an instant, I sat up in bed and listened intently, but I had
not had time to get up before I heard a short, angry yelp, and then
Nokomis' footsteps pattering out of the room and going down-stairs in
hasty jumps. I struck a match and looked at my watch. It was a quarter
past two o'clock. I knew well enough, then, that Edna would take Miss
Fielding's place in the morning. It was much as if a ghost had entered
the house and lurked in the darkness. For a long time I was too
agitated to sleep.
The next day was cool and cloudy. I found a fire burning in the library
when I went down-stairs and Leah was there, putting the room to rights.
She looked up at me gratefully, as if it were a consolation to her to
have some one to depend upon.
Leah had, by this time, begun to treat me quite as if I were her master.
I had always tried to meet her upon terms which would prove that I had
no prejudice on account of her color, but that very attitude of mine
seemed to make her more willing to do me unlooked-for service. I am
told that this is not, as a rule, true of negroes, and the Southerners,
who by sentiment and tradition hold themselves as superior in virtue of
their birth, keep the respect of colored folk and receive a willing
acceptation of subservience that no Northerner, capable of no such race
feeling, can achieve. That Leah's gratitude for my consideration did
express itself in such devotion proves, perhaps, only that she was
intrinsically finer--that she was, as I have already expressed it, ahead
of her time. There was much pathos in it, nevertheless, for I was quite
ready to regard her as a social, as she was, undoubtedly, a moral equal.
"Did you hear Nokomis?" she asked immediately.
"I should say! Didn't it awaken Miss Fielding?"
"Oh, no, she sleeps heavily at these times. But it awakened me--wasn't
it horrible! It was Miss Edna coming in! Think of it!"
"How is she this morning?"
"Fretful and irritable--to me, at least. She asked for you, and she has
been telephoning to the doctor again. Oh, I wish you might prevent
that. What does she do it for, Mr. Castle?"
"He is probably making her do it," I replied. "You see, he has attained
a sort of power over her, I suspect. Just how much, we must try to find
out. Have you any idea what she said?"
"No; she sent me out of the room. But I think he'll probably be down
to-day. How I dread it! Why does he come here so often?"
"He's coming down, Leah, because he realizes that we've begun to fight
him. It will be open war, this time, I expect. We don't like each
other, and I strongly suspect that by to-night the cards will be shown
down."
"He's trying to get rid of me!" she said hopelessly, going on with her
dusting.
"Well, he'll have to beat me there, first," I said. "So long as Edna
doesn't have two days running I think I can keep you here safely. But
we must be ready for the worst. Is there any place near here where you
could stay, if necessary, for a day or so?"
She reminded me of the old cabin a little way down the road, and thought
it might be fitted up well enough. She wouldn't be afraid to stay there
alone, and could probably manage her meals somehow, through King, who
was always ready to help her.
"Have you a revolver?" I asked.
"Miss Joy has one, and I can easily get it."
"It might be well to have it at hand," I suggested. "I'd advise you to
ask Uncle Jerdon to clean up the cabin for you. And be sure that the
collies are fastened up, too, won't you? Where's Nokomis now?"
"Nokomis came down-stairs and spent the rest of the night in the
kitchen. When King opened the door, she went out. She'll not come
back, I think, till Miss Joy's herself again."
"That will be to-morrow, I trust. But by that time we must have
something definite to report to her. To-day, if possible, I am going to
find out exactly what the doctor is up to. I shall hold back for no
scruples; I'll listen, I'll lie and I'll cheat to find out his game and
how to outwit him!"
"I'll do anything you say, too, Mr. Castle. I'm willing to take the same
pledge." This was, for her, the consummate sacrifice. She would, I am
sure, have given her honor, if necessary, to save her mistress.
We were interrupted then, by Miss Fielding's appearance--I dare not call
her Edna, lest one forgets that in almost every outward aspect she was
unchanged. Indeed, had her body, instead of her mind, been
metamorphosed, I think it would have been easier to adjust one's self to
the strangeness of it. But Edna's words and Edna's actions constantly
gave the lie to Joy's voice and Joy's face. One could not even treat
her as insane. It was definitely another person in masquerade. My soul
went out to her at the sight, to return chilled at the revelation of
that strangeness. I was constantly being tricked by my memory. When I
had become so interested in the conversation as not to notice her
appearance it was easy enough to feel that I was talking to quite
another than Joy, but upon my first sight of her, or when, after having
looked away for a while my eyes returned suddenly to her, the surprise
of Edna's words coming from Joy's lips gave me a shock. But with all
this I had begun to accept Edna as a perversion, a distortion of Joy's
self, rather than as a separate individuality, and I was caring too much
for Joy, now, not to witness the working of the spell without a
constant, fiery protest in my heart.
After our first greetings Leah disappeared, and we went into the
dining-room. Edna sat opposite me at the table as I breakfasted, her
elbows on the cloth, her chin on the backs of her clasped hands, looking
at me.
"Well," she began, "I've forgotten again, Chet."
I wondered what was coming. She seemed more absorbed, more
introspective than usual, for what of this phase she had heretofore
manifested had appeared usually later in the day. She watched me, too,
with a curious intentness.
"But you're not so bad as you have been," I offered. "You know you only
lost a day, this time."
"No, I'm getting hold of myself, I believe. The doctor is helping me,
I'm sure. I used to lose four or five days every week."
"I congratulate you!" I said, falsely enough, I confess. But I must at
any cost placate her.
"How was I yesterday, Chet?"
"What d'you mean?"
"How did I act? What did I do? Was I very different from what I am
to-day, for instance? Tell me all about it!"
This staggered me. She had never betrayed so much curiosity before; she
had always taken her lapses in her careless, thoughtless way, without
much question. I saw Leah in the kitchen stop and listen, her lips
parted, showing her white teeth.
"You were very lovely--as usual!" I said.
"I'm glad you found me so, Chet. You've never said that before, you
know!"
"Well, I've thought so, often enough!"
"Did you like me any better than you usually do, then?" she insisted,
keeping her eyes on mine.
"Oh, there are some times when I don't quite approve of you, I confess."
"When, Chet?"
"When you abuse the dogs--or Leah." Leah disappeared.
"But they abuse me, too, horrid things!" she complained peevishly. "And
I can't for the life of me see why you're so fond of Leah. She's a
great trial to me. I'm only keeping her on, now, on your account, and
if you scold me, I'll be sorry I did."
"Oh, I'm not going to scold you. You're too charming."
"As charming as I was yesterday?"
"Almost." I hated myself for saying it.
"What did we do yesterday? You haven't told me yet."
"Why, we talked, mostly. We sat up in your study all the afternoon, and
in the evening we played chess."
"Played chess? I must have played pretty badly!"
"Oh, no! In fact, you gave me a hard fight and beat me."
"Chess is stupid, though. I'd rather talk. What did we talk about?"
"Oh, about you, mostly."
"Did you make love to me?"
"No."
"Why not, if I was so very much nicer than usual?"
Her deliberate misquotation, a common enough feminine trait, was
characteristic of Edna's newly acquired mental agility, but in addition
I perceived that there was something behind even that. It was something
new for her to proceed so categorically. It embarrassed me not a
little, and yet I could not quite bring myself to lie to her outright,
even to throw her off the track. It was almost impossible when I looked
her straight in the face--Joy's face--nor, of course, could I reveal
anything of what had really happened.
"Oh," I said, "you're very nice now, but I'm not making love to you, you
see."