THE GRAVE LADY.
The hills of Cloud Island were a fair sight to see in the moonlight.
When the traveller came close to them, the beach ended obviously in a
sandy road which led up on the island. There was a small white wooden
house near the beach; there was candlelight within, but Caius took no
notice of it. The next building was a lighthouse, which stood three
hundred yards farther on. The light looking seaward was not visible. He
passed the distance swiftly, and no sooner were his feet level with the
wall of the square wooden tower, than he turned about on the soft sandy
road and faced the wind that had been racing with him, and looked. The
scene was all as he might have expected to see it; but there was no
living creature in sight. He stood in the gale, bare-headed, looking,
looking; he had no desire to enter the house. The sea-maid was not in
sight, truly; but as long as he stood alone in the moonlight scene, he
felt that her presence was with him. Then he remembered the dying man of
whom he had been told, who lay in such need of his ministrations. The
thought came with no binding sense of duty such as he had felt
concerning the keeping of his vow. He would have scorned to do a
dishonourable thing in the face of the uplifting charm of the nature
around him, and, more especially, in the presence of his love; but what
had nature and this, her beautiful child, to do with the tending of
disease and death? Better let the man die; better remain himself in the
wholesome outside. He felt that he would put himself at variance with
the companions of the last glorious hour if he attended to the dictates
of this dolorous duty. Yet, because of a dull habit of duty he had, he
turned in a minute, and went into the house where he had been told he
would receive guidance for the rest of his journey.
He had no sooner knocked at the substantial door on the ground-floor of
the lighthouse than it was opened by a sallow-faced, kindly-looking old
woman. She admitted him, as if he were an expected comer, into a large
square room, in which a lamp and a fire were burning. The room was
exquisitely neat and clean, as if the inspector of lighthouses might be
looked for at any moment. The woman, who was French, spoke a little
English, and her French was of a sort which Caius could understand and
answer. She placed a chair for him by the heated stove, asked where Mr.
O'Shea and the cart had tarried, listened with great interest to a brief
account of the accident in the quicksand, and, without more delay,
poured out hot strong coffee, which Caius drank out of a large bowl.
"Are you alone in the house?" asked Caius. The impression was strong
upon him that he was in a place where the people bore a dangerous or
mysterious character. A woman to be alone, with open doors, must either
be in league with those from whom danger might be feared, or must
possess mysterious powers of self-defence.
The woman assured him that she was alone, and perfectly safe. She gave a
kindly and careful glance at the traveller's boots, which had been wet,
and brought him another pair. It was evident she knew who Caius was, and
wherefore he had come to the island, and that her careful entertainment
of him was prearranged. It was arranged, too, that she should pass him
on to the patient for whom his skill was chiefly desired that night as
quickly as possible. She gave him only reasonable time to be warmed and
fed, telling him the while what a good man this was who had lately been
taken so very ill, what an excellent husband and father, how important
his life was to the welfare of the community.
"For," said she, "he is truly rather rich and very intelligent; so much
so that some would even say that he was the friend of Madame Le Maître."
Her voice had a crescendo of vehemence up to this last name.
Caius had his marching orders once more. His hostess went out with him
to the moonlit road to point his way. She showed him where the road
divided, and which path to take, and said that he must then pass three
houses and enter the fourth. She begged him, with courteous authority,
to hasten.
The houses were a good way apart. After half an hour's fast walking,
Caius came to the appointed place. The house was large, of
light-coloured wood, shingled all over roof and sides, and the light and
shades in the lapping of the shingles gave the soft effect almost as of
feathers in the lesser light of night. It stood in a large compound of
undulating grassy ground.
The whole lower floor of this house was one room. In the middle of it,
on a small pallet bedstead, lay the sick man. Beside him was a woman
dressed in gray homespun, apparently his wife, and another woman who
wore a dress not unlike that of a nun, a white cap being bandaged
closely round her forehead, cheeks and chin. The nun-like dress gave her
great dignity. She seemed to Caius a strong-featured woman of large
stature, apparently in early middle age. He was a good deal surprised
when he found that this was Madame Le Maître. He had had no definite
notion of her, but this certainly did not fulfil his idea.
It was but the work of a short time to do all that could be done that
night for the sick man, to leave the remedies that were to be used. It
was now midnight. The hot stove in the room, causing reaction from the
strongly-stimulating air, made him again feel heavy with sleep. The
nun-like lady, who had as yet said almost nothing to him, now touched
him on the shoulder and beckoned him to follow her. She led him out into
the night again, round the house and into a barn, in either side of
which were tremendous bins of hay.
"Your house," she said, "is a long way from here, and you are very
tired. In the house here there is the infection." Here she pointed him
to the hay, and, giving him a warm blanket, bade him good-night.
Caius shut the door, and found that the place was lit by dusky rays of
moonlight that came through chinks in its walls. He climbed the ladder
that reached to the top of the hay, and rolled himself and his blanket
warmly in it. The barn was not cold. The airiness of the walls was a
relief to him after the infected room. Never had couch felt more
luxurious.