"Yes," said Scales excitedly, as he bent over his patient, whom he had
placed upon the floor of the study, after ordering fresh medical help to
be fetched at once--"yes--there is hope."
As he spoke, Kate Scarlett uttered a low wail, and Aunt Sophia caught
her in her arms; but the stricken wife struggled to get free. "No, no;
I shall not give way," she panted; "I will be brave, and help." For, as
the doctor slowly continued his efforts to restore the circulation,
there came at last a faint gasp; and soon after, the medical man from
the village came in, cool and calm, to take in the situation at a
glance.
By this time, Scarlett was breathing with some approach to the normal
strength, and Scales turned to the new-comer. "Will you"--he began. He
could say no more, from utter exhaustion and excitement, but sank over
sidewise, fainting dead away, leaving the new-comer to complete his
task.
It was not a long one now, for almost together James Scarlett and his
friend opened their eyes and gazed about wildly.
The doctor was the first to recover himself, and he drank eagerly of the
spirit and water held to his lips, and then rose and walked to the open
window.
"I'm better now," he said, returning to where his fellow professional
was leaning over Scarlett, to whose wandering eyes the light of reason
had not yet returned. "How is he now?"
"Coming round fast," said the other.
"He's dying?" moaned Lady Scarlett, as she saw her husband's eyes slowly
close once more.
"No, no," said Scales quietly. "It is exhaustion and sleep. He'll go
off soundly now for many hours, and wake up nearly well."
"Are you saying this to deceive me?" cried Lady Scarlett.
"Indeed, no; ask our friend here."
Lady Scarlett looked at the other appealingly, and he confirmed his
confrere's words. But still she was not convinced, so pale and
motionless Sir James lay, till the doctor signed to her to bend over and
place her ear against her husband's breast.
Then, as she heard the regular heavy pulsation of his heart, she uttered
a low, sobbing, hysterical cry, turned to Scales, caught his hand in
hers, kissed it again and again, and then crouched lower upon her knees
at her husband's side, weeping and praying during his heavy sleep.
The local doctor stayed for a couple of hours, and then, after a short
consultation with Scales, shook hands. "You have done wonders," he said
on leaving.
"No," said Scales quietly; "I only persevered."
He found Aunt Sophia kneeling by Lady Scarlett's side, pressing her to
rise and partake of some tea which the old lady had ready for her, but
only to obtain negative motions of the suffering little woman's head,
till Scales bent down and whispered--
"Yes, you must take it, Lady Scarlett; you will want all your strength
perhaps when your husband wakes."
His voice roused her and she rose at once, caught his hand in hers and
kissed it again before going to a side-table and eating and drinking
whatever Aunt Sophia placed in her hands.
"She'd make a splendid nurse," said the doctor to himself, "so obedient
and patient. I didn't think she had it in her, but somehow I don't
quite like her and her ways."
Just then he turned and met Prayle's eyes fixed upon him rather
curiously, and it seemed to him, in his own rather excited state, that
his friend's cousin was watching him in no very amiable way.
The thought passed off on the moment and he went down on one knee by
Scarlett's extemporised couch. For by this time the patient had been
made comfortable where he lay with blankets and cushions. The doctor
too had found time to change, and had prescribed for himself what he
told Aunt Sophia was the tip-top of recuperators in such a case, a
strong cup of tea with a tablespoonful of brandy.
"Poor old boy!" he said tenderly, as he laid his hand upon Scarlett's
breast. "Yes, your old heart's doing its duty once again, and, and--
confound it! what a weak fool I am."
He remained very still for some minutes, so that no one should see the
big hot tears that dropped in a most unprofessional fashion upon the
blankets and glistened there. But it was a failure as far as one person
was concerned, and he might just as well have taken out his
handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and had one of those good sonorous blows
of the nose indulged in by Englishmen when they feel affected; for under
the most painful circumstances, however natural, it is of course
exceedingly unmanly of the first made human being to cry. That luxury
and relief of an overladen spirit is reserved for the Eves of creation.
All the same though, there are few men who do not weep in times of
intense mental agony. They almost invariably, however, and by long
practice and custom, the result probably of assistance in accordance
with Darwinian laws, contrive to switch the lines or rather ducts of
their tears, shunt these saline globules of bitterness, and cry through
the nose.
"There! he's going on capitally now," he said, after a time.--"Mr
Prayle, you need not, stay."
"Oh, I would rather wait," said Prayle. "He may have a relapse."
"Oh, I shall be with him," said the doctor confidently. "I will ask you
to leave us now, Mr Prayle. I want to keep the room quiet and cool."
Arthur Prayle was disposed to resist; but a doctor is an autocrat in a
sick-chamber, whom no one but a patient dare disobey; and the result was
that Prayle unwillingly left the room.
"Got rid of him," muttered the doctor.--"Now for the old maid," who, by
the way, has behaved like a trump.
"I don't think you need stay, Miss Raleigh," he whispered. "You must be
very tired now."
"Yes, Doctor Scales," she said quietly; "but I will not go to bed. You
may want a little help in the night."
"I shall not leave my husband's side," said Lady Scarlett firmly.--"Oh,
Doctor Scales, pray, pray, tell me the truth; keep nothing back. Is
there any danger?"
"Upon my word, as a man, Lady Scarlett, there is none."
"You are not deceiving me?"
"Indeed, no. Here is the case for yourself: he has been nearly
drowned."
"Yes, yes," sobbed Lady Scarlett.
"Well, he has his breathing apparatus in order again, and is fast
asleep. There is no disease."
"No; I understand that," said Lady Scarlett excitedly; "but--a relapse?"
"Relapse?" said the doctor in a low voice and laughing quietly. "Well,
the only form of relapse he could have would be to tumble in again."
"Don't; pray, don't laugh at me, doctor," said Lady Scarlett piteously.
"You cannot tell what I suffer."
"O yes, I can," he said kindly. "If I laughed then, it was only to give
you confidence. He will wake up with a bad nervous headache, and that's
all.--Now, suppose you go and lie down."
"No; I shall stay with my husband," she said firmly. "I cannot go."
"Well," he said, "you shall stay.--Perhaps you will stay with us as
well, Miss Raleigh," he added. "We can shade the light; and he is so
utterly exhausted, that even if we talk, I don't think he will wake."
"And he will not be worse?" whispered Lady Scarlett.
"People _will_ not have any confidence in their medical man. Come, now,
I think you might trust me, after what I have done."
"I do trust you, Doctor Scales, and believe in you as my husband's best
and dearest friend," cried Lady Scarlett. "Heaven bless you for what
you have done!" She hurriedly kissed his hand; and then, after a glance
at her husband's pale face, she went and sat upon the floor beside Aunt
Sophia's chair, laid her hands upon the elder lady's knees, and hid her
face, sitting there so motionless that she seemed to be asleep.
"I wish she would not do that," muttered the doctor; and then: "I hate a
woman who behaves in that lapdog way. I never liked her, and I don't
think I ever shall."
It was a change indeed, the long watch through that night, and it was
with a sigh of relief that the doctor saw the first grey light of
morning stealing through the window. Only a few hours before and all
had been so bright and sunny, now all was depression and gloom. When
they started for their water trip trouble seemed a something that could
not fall upon so happy a home. Aunt Sophia's fears had only been a
motive for mirth, and since then, with a rapidity that was like the
lightning's flash, this terrible shock had come upon them.
"Ah, well!" mused the doctor, as he stood at the window holding the
blind a little on one side so as to gaze out at the grey sky, "it might
have been worse, and it will make him more careful for the future. My
word though, it was precious lucky that I was in the boat."
He yawned slightly now, for there was no denying that the doctor was
terribly sleepy. It was bad enough to lose a night's rest, but the
exhaustion he had suffered from his efforts made it worse, and in spite
of his anxiety and eagerness to save his friend, there was no concealing
the fact that unless he had risen and walked about now and then he would
have fallen asleep.
Just as the sky was becoming flecked with tiny clouds of gold and
orange, the first brightness that had been seen since the evening
before, a few muttered words and a restless movement made doctor and
wife hurry to the extempore couch.
"Kate! Where's Kate?" exclaimed Scarlett in a hoarse cracked voice.
"I am here, dear--here at your side," she whispered, laying her cheek to
his.
"Has the boat gone over? Save Kate!"
"We are all safe, dear husband."
"Fool!--idiot!--to go so near. So dangerous!" he cried excitedly.
"Jack--Jack, old man--my wife--my wife!"
"It's all right, old fellow," said the doctor cheerily. "There, there;
you only had a bit of a ducking--that's all."
"Scales--Jack!--Where am I? Where's Kate?"
"Here, dear love, by your side."
"My head!" panted the poor fellow. "I'm frightened. What does it mean?
Why do you all stare at me like that? Here! what's the matter? Have I
had a dream?"
"He calm, old fellow," said the doctor. "You're all right now."
"Catch hold of my hand, Kate," he cried, drawing in his breath with a
hiss. "There's something wrong with--here--the back of my neck, and my
head throbs terribly. Here! Have I been overboard? Why don't you
speak?"
"Scarlett, old fellow, be calm," said the doctor firmly. "There; that's
better."
"Yes; I'll lie still. What a frightful headache! But tell me what it
all means.--Ah! I remember now. The oar broke, and I went under. I
was beaten down.--Jack--Kate, dear--do you hear me?"
"Yes, yes, dear love; yes, yes," whispered Lady Scarlett, placing her
arm round his neck and drawing his head upon her breast. "It was a
nasty accident; but you are quite safe now."
"Safe? Am I safe?" he whispered hoarsely. "That's right, dear; hold
me--tightly now." He closed his eyes and shuddered, while Lady Scarlett
gazed imploringly in the doctor's face.
"The shock to his nerves," he said quietly. "A bit upset; but he'll be
all right soon;" and as he spoke, the doctor laid his hand upon his
friend's pulse.
Scarlett uttered a piercing cry, starting and gazing wildly at his old
companion. "Oh! It was you," he panted, and he closed his eyes again,
clinging tightly to his wife, as he whispered softly, "Don't leave me,
dear--don't leave me."
He seemed to calm down then and lay quite still muttering about the
boat--the oar breaking--and the black water.
"It kept me down," he said with another shudder, and speaking as if to
himself. "It kept me down till I felt that I was drowning. Jack
Scales," he said aloud, "how does a man feel when he is drowned?"
"Don't know, old fellow. Never was drowned," said the doctor
cheerily.--"Now, look here; it's only just sunrise, so you'd better go
to sleep again, and then you'll wake up as lively as a cricket."
"Sunrise?--sunrise?" said Scarlett excitedly--"sunrise?" And as he
spoke he looked round from one to the other. "Why, you've been sitting
up all night! Of course, I'm down here. Have I been very bad?"
The doctor hesitated for a few moments, and then, deeming it best to
tell him all, he said quietly:
"Well, pretty bad, old fellow, but we brought you to again, and it's all
right now."
"Yes, it's all right now. It's all right now," muttered Scarlett,
looking from one to the other, and then clinging tightly to his wife's
hand he closed his eyes once more, lay muttering for a time, and then
seemed to be fast asleep.
Lady Scarlett kept following the doctor's every movement with her
wistful eyes till he said in a whisper: "Let him sleep, and I'll come
back presently."
"Don't you leave me, Kate," cried Scarlett, shuddering.
"No, no, dear," she said tenderly; and the poor fellow uttered a low
sigh, and remained with his eyes closed, as the doctor softly left the
room, beckoning to Aunt Sophia to follow him.
"I'm going to get a prescription made up," he said. "I'll send off the
groom on one of the horses; there will be a place open in the town by
the time he gets there."
"Stop a moment," said Aunt Sophia, clutching at his arm. "Tell me what,
this means. Why is he like this?"
"Oh, it is only the reaction--the shock to his nerves. Poor fellow!" he
muttered to himself, "he has been face to face with death."
"Doctor Scales," said Aunt Sophia, with her hand tightening upon his
arm--"shock to his nerves! He is not going to be like that patient of
yours you spoke of the other day?"
The sun was up, and streaming in upon them where they stood in the
plant-bedecked hall, and it seemed as if its light had sent a flash into
the soul of John Scales, M.D., as he gazed sharply into his querist's
eyes and then shuddered. For in these moments he seemed to see the
owner of that delightful English home, him who, but a few hours before,
had been all that was perfect in manly vigour and mental strength,
changed into a stricken, nerveless, helpless man, clinging to his wife
in the extremity of his child-like dread.
For the time being he could not speak, then struggling against the spell
that seemed to hold him fast, he cried angrily--
"No, no! Absurd, absurd! Only a few hours' rest, and he'll be
himself."
He hurried into the study, and hastily wrote his prescription, taking it
out directly to where the groom was just unfastening the stable-doors.
"Ride over to the town, sir? Yes, sir.--But, beg pardon, sir--Sir
James, sir? Is he all right?"
"Oh, getting over it nicely, my man. Be quick."
"I'll be off in five minutes, sir," cried the groom; and within the
specified time the horse's hoofs were clattering over the stable-yard as
the man rode off.
"Like my patient of whom I spoke!" said the doctor to himself. "Oh, it
would be too horrible! Bah! What an idiot I am, thinking like that
weak old lady there. What nonsense, to be sure!"
But as he re-entered the room softly, and saw the shrinking,
horror-stricken look with which at the very slight sound he made his
friend started up, he asked himself whether it was possible that such a
terrible change could have taken place, and the more he tried to drive
the thought away the stronger it seemed to grow, shadowing him like some
black mental cloud till he hardly dared to meet the young wife's
questioning eyes, as she besought him silently to help her in this time
of need.
Volume 1, Chapter XIII.