THE DEVOTED NURSE.
AN ACCIDENT.--THE SUITOR'S MISTAKE.--NO DUTCH NEEDED.--JAN'S
INCOHERENCES.--EEN STUK OF EEN.--KITTY GIVES KOPJES.--A QUIET SLEEP.
"Wel," continued Jack; "it was these experiences that made me begin to
doubt the value of my Berlitz soliloquy-method. But Terence helped me
to give the system a really good trial; and he worked as hard as I did.
It was quite different with Kathleen. When she came back from Germany,
she was keen on art, but apparently had been moping about something.
And she refused to study any more Dutch.
That was before the accident, you see. After that, she was quite angelic
and nursed her father assiduously, and the landlady's little son, too.
You know, of course, that uncle got a severe shock from a motor-bike
along the canal. Jan who had been prowling around, to give his "chat"
an airing, ran across just in time to push the absent-minded old
gentleman out of the way. But the lad was thrown on the ground and
badly hurt. Uncle pulled round soon enough--his indignation at the
motor cyclist helped him, as he had some vague idea, if he were up and
about, he could get the culprit arrested. But Jan grew steadily worse
for the first week. The violent fall and the bruise were both very bad
for the plucky youngster.
Kathleen kept going back and forward, looking after the sufferers. She
said she never could repay Jan enough for saving her father's life. It
appears to have been a 'close shave', at the edge of that deep canal;
and Uncle nearly had them all in.
As a matter of fact, he had spent the morning with me, telling me about
his grand 'find' of original Celtic manuscripts in Germany, and about
van Leeuwen's kindness. I never saw him so taken with anybody! In Bonn
he had got wind of these precious Celtic relics; and, as everything
was closed at the University at that time of the year, he worried
and fumed, till he met some of the authorities that knew van Leeuwen.
Immediately he had banged off a telegram to Arnhem, requesting van
Leeuwen's private influence; and, to his delight, that young man came
joyfully in person. Of course he would! It was too good a chance to be
missed. Indeed it was just the opportunity he wanted. And yet he and
Kathleen quarrelled fiercely over trifles all the time.
But I was telling you about my uncle's escape. It seems he was ambling
along in his usual oblivious style, on the sunny side of the street,
when he stopped (no doubt painfully near the edge of the canal) to
note down something that occurred to him for his book. Just then a
motor-cycle turned the corner at a fiendish speed, and was nearly over
him. Uncle is the most helpless of mortals at such times--and he was
stepping hurriedly into the canal, when Jan bounded across the road
and pulled him right.
The bike-tourist must have been a heartless fellow; for he never
swerved, but bore down at full tilt on both rescuer and rescued, while
they were still on the edge of the water.
The youthful Jan, however, is both original and daring; for he turned
the motor man aside as cleverly as if he had Boyton in his hand.
He either flung himself or his cap against the advancing horror.
Terence says it was the kitten he threw. In any case the little fellow
did, as a last resource, try to protect both his dear kitty and the
Engelschen Mijnheer, at some risk to himself. The "chat" was unharmed,
but fled up an adjacent elm, whence it had to be coaxed down at dusk
with endless saucerfuls of milk.
This task Kathleen took on herself, after we discovered that Dr.
MacNamara, though shaken, was not injured. Nothing would have pleased
you better than to have seen her beaming face as she brought the
trembling little kitty to Jan's bedside. She didn't know a word of
Dutch; but managed to communicate quite easily, by signs, with Jan's
mother, whom she promised to come often and see.
We all assumed, at first, that the little fellow had escaped scot-free;
but, in a day or two, he was in high fever, and unconscious. He had got
a contusion, the doctor said, and would be confined to his cot for
weeks.
It was marvellous to see how Kathleen comforted the poor mother,
without either grammar, Polite Dialogue, or the use of Het.
I grew quite jealous and envious. Here was I who had been slaving at
syntax and accidence for weeks, and I couldn't carry on an intelligent
conversation for two minutes without deviating into metaphysics, or
getting into a quarrel; while my cousin (who said she hated Dutch)
could get through the niceties of sick-room nursing, and the subtleties
of heartening up the poor hysterical mother, with the utmost ease and
success.
And I knew for certain that she couldn't go through the Present
Optative of 'ik graauw, ik kef en ik kweel', or give one of the rules
for gij (lieden)--no, not to save her life. But she was never at a
loss, for all that. A more devoted nurse, indeed, I cannot imagine.
At the crisis, when the little sufferer was really in danger, she used
to watch by him hours at a stretch, to relieve the helpless mother.
The serious turn came all at once; and no aid was at hand. Jan was in
pain, and wandered in his talk, crying out that the motor-fiets was
hunting him into the canal, for having rescued a +vreemdeling+; and
pouring forth such a torrent of elementary English and Boyton-Dutch as
surprised us all.
I fancy it was, in part, my early translations he had treasured up; for
some of my mistakes about handcuffs and dogcollars figured amid the
incoherences; and it was pitiable to hear him plead for a +zie beneden+
to wrap round his injured arm--already bandaged as tightly as he could
bear it.
Then he kept ringing the changes on an expression I must have used in
argument with his mother the day I persuaded her to keep his bedraggled
foundling.
"Het is geen menigte poesjes, zegt Mijnheer; het is maar een stuk of
een. Heus, moe, laat hem blijven. Niet bang, hoor, schattie, je bent
maar een stuk of een! Pas op, Mijnheer, daar komt de fiets!" And so on
+da capo+.
So wild and restless was he, the second evening of the fever, that we
had to summon the doctor unexpectedly, quite late.
Yes; his condition was disquieting, and we must get him to sleep. It
was largely a matter of nursing, at the moment; new medicine was sent
for; his head was to be kept cool; and only one watcher was to remain
in the room. Above all, no noise. If the English juffrouw, who seemed
to understand the lad's state, would consent to sit up to two or three
o'clock, so much the better. The excited mother could have a rest
meantime. Otherwise she would be fit for nothing next day.
But no sooner had the good doctor softly closed the front door, than my
landlady declared it was her intention to watch all night.
Kathleen was at her wits' end. In vain did she make signs and talk
emphatic English in her high voice, or try coaxing with a bit of the
brogue. All her feminine free-masonry failed to communicate the
faintest idea to the mother.
Uncle MacNamara, who had been waiting to take his daughter back to the
Doelen, tried moral suasion in his own particular brand of German, and
even in other tongues.--Terence says his father recited a well-known
passage from the Iliad in his eagerness to be persuasive!--But all
without avail. She wouldn't heed anybody; and she wouldn't go; she sat
close to the cot, rocking violently to and fro, and moaning "Mijn eigen
kind! mijn eigen kind!"
The little fevered face was puckered with a new perplexity at the sound
of all this grief and the familiar voice.
"Moeder," he cried, "moederr! Daar komt ie weer! Hij wou me in 't water
gooien. Moeder, vasthoue, hoor!"
It was most painful; for my landlady's impending hysterics were making
the lad worse every moment.
"Is poesje ook weggeloopen?" he said presently. A happy thought struck
Kathleen. She stole downstairs, and presently returned with the 'chat',
which was purring vigorously and giving 'kopjes'.
As she placed the soft furry creature in Jan's hands, he stopped
moaning and stroked it joyfully. "Dag, Kitty!" he said with delight.
"Ben je terug?"
Apparently he thought it was I who had restored the wanderer, for he
explained: "Geen praatje, mijnheer: Zat is mine naiz litle chat."
Then, exhausted and satisfied, he dropped into a sound sleep.