Frank Fairlegh Part 34

With a sad shake of the head, as if she mistrusted my attempt to rea.s.sure her, she quitted the room, whilst I obeyed Ellis's instructions by preparing the bed; after which I unclosed the hall-door, and, despatching the gardener's boy to fetch the surgeon, stood anxiously awaiting the arrival of the party. I had not done so many minutes when the measured tramp of feet gave notice of their approach, and in another instant they came in sight.

CHAPTER XXVIII -- THE SUBSTANCE OF THE SHADOW

"Recovery, where art thou?

Daughter of Heaven, where shall we seek thy help?"

"Come thou and chase away Sorrow and Pain, the persecuting Powers, Who make the melancholy day so long, So long the anxious night."

"I look for thy approach, O life-preserving Power! as one who strays Alone in darkness o'er the pathless marsh, Watches the dawn of day."

--_Southey_.

"ALL well so far," replied Ellis, in answer to my look of inquiry; "the bleeding has ceased, and he is fast recovering consciousness. Where is the room? We must get him into bed at once."

-221--When we had placed him in the bed Oaklands lay for a short s.p.a.ce with his eyelids closed, uttering a low groan at intervals; at length the quiet appeared in some measure to restore him, and, slowly opening his eyes, he gazed languidly around, asking in a low voice, "Where am I?"

"Let me beg you not to speak, Mr. Oaklands," said Ellis; "your safety depends upon your keeping silence; you are at the cottage of your friend Fairlegh."

As he heard these words Harry perceived me standing near the bed, and smiled faintly in token of recognition; then, making a sign for me to stoop down to him, he whispered, "My father--you must break this to him--go, Frank".

"This instant," replied I, and I turned to leave the room, beckoning to Ellis, as I did so, to follow me. "Tell me the truth," exclaimed I, as he closed the door behind him, "will he live or die?"

"It is too early in the business to p.r.o.nounce a decided opinion," was the answer; "nor can I venture as yet to do so; everything depends upon the course the ball may have taken, and that, as soon as the other surgeon arrives, we must endeavour to ascertain; all I can say at present is, that I have seen worse cases recover. There is one thing,"

he added, "which may be a satisfaction for you to know--if you had not brought me, or some one in my profession, to the ground, he would have bled to death where he fell; no one but a surgeon could have stopped that bleeding."

"If we had been too late I should never have forgiven myself, and we very nearly were so," returned I. "I cannot understand how it was."

"I can explain it," said Archer, who now joined us. "You left me up at the village, you remember, Fairlegh, when you started to fetch Mr.

Ellis; well, just as I was leaving it to return to the Hall, a boy ran past me at the top of his speed, and began knocking at one of the cottage doors hard by; surprised to see any one about at so early an hour in the morning, I inquired what was the matter. 'Master's just had word brought him that some gem'men is a going to fight a jewel at five o'clock, and I be come to call the constable, for master to give him a warrant to take 'em hup.' 'And who is your master?' questioned I.

'Justice b.u.mbleby,' was the answer. This was enough for me; I made the best of my way to the Hall, woke Oaklands, who was sleeping as calmly as a child, poor fellow! and he immediately sent his own -222--groom, the lad who went with us to the field, to inform Wilford and his second of what I had heard, and to propose that the meeting should take place a quarter of an hour earlier than the time originally agreed on, to which they willingly consented."

"This then," thought I, "is the reason why Coleman's scheme failed, and c.u.mberland arrived too late;--well, one good thing is, it will clearly prove that neither Archer nor Oaklands connived at the intended interruption."

The deep, the agonising grief of Sir John Oaklands, on receiving from my lips the account of his son's danger, was most painful to witness, and I was obliged to yield to his desire to return with me to the cottage, although Ellis had strictly forbidden his being allowed to see Harry, lest the excitement should prove injurious to the patient in the precarious state in which he lay. On my return I found the surgeon of the neighbourhood, Mr. (or as he was more commonly styled Dr.) Probehurt, had arrived, and that they were endeavouring to extract the ball, which, after a long and painful operation, they succeeded in doing. From the marks on the coat and waistcoat, it appeared that Wilford had aimed straight for the heart; but his deadly intentions had been providentially frustrated by the accident of Oaklands having a half-crown piece in a small pocket in his waist-coat, against which the ball had struck, and, glancing off, pa.s.sed between two of the ribs, finally lodging amongst the muscles immediately under the shoulder-blade. The great effusion of blood had been occasioned by its having divided one of the smaller arteries, which Ellis had succeeded in securing on the spot. The wound was, therefore, a very severe one; but it was impossible to p.r.o.nounce upon the exact amount of danger at present, as the course which the ball had taken trenched closely on so many important organs, that time alone could show the extent of the injury sustained. With this opinion, in which (strange to say) both doctors agreed, we were fain to content ourselves, and we pa.s.sed the rest of the day in alternately watching by the wounded man and attempting to comfort and support Sir John, whom we had the greatest difficulty in keeping out of Harry's room, till Ellis asked him abruptly "whether he wanted to murder his son?" after which nothing short of force could have induced him to enter it. One of his first acts, having consulted with Dr. Probehurt, who graciously approved of the measure, was to enter into an arrangement with -223--Ellis, to induce him to remain constantly with Harry till his health should be perfectly re-established, if, indeed, that happy event was ever destined to occur. As Sir John's liberality was unbounded, and Ellis's professional prospects rather hazy--his practice at Harley End being chiefly confined to the very poor, who went on the advice gratis system, and expected to have medicine given them into the bargain--the negotiation was soon concluded to the satisfaction of both parties.

Towards evening Harry became more restless; the pain of his wound increased, and feverish symptoms began to make their appearance. As the night advanced he grew delirious, and before morning was in a high state of fever. For many days his life was despaired of. Ellis never left his bedside, save to s.n.a.t.c.h an occasional hour's sleep on a sofa, when I took his place. Sir Benjamin Brodie was summoned from town, and held a consultation with Dr. Probehurt and Ellis.

Sir John's grief was something fearful to witness. Although naturally a strong-minded man, this unlooked-for blow and the subsequent anxiety had completely unnerved him. At times he would cry like a child; at others he would sit for hours without opening his lips, his head resting dejectedly on his hands, the image of despair: he could with difficulty be prevailed upon to take sufficient nourishment for his support, and appeared scarcely to notice anything that was going on. On these occasions f.a.n.n.y was the only person whose influence was of the slightest avail; with her own hands she would prepare some delicacy of which she knew he was fond, and when with a melancholy shake of the head he rejected it, she would seat herself at his feet, and, taking his hand within her own, whisper kind words of hope and consolation to him, till the old man's heart was softened, and he could refuse her nothing.

Sometimes even this failed, and then she would begin singing in a low sweet voice some plaintive simple air that he loved to hear, till the tears would steal down his grief-worn cheeks, and, laying his hand upon her fair young brow, he would bless her, and say that the G.o.d who was about to take his n.o.ble son from him, had sent an angel to be a daughter to him in his stead. And so the weary days wore on--still vibrating between life and death, the strong man, his matchless powers now reduced to the weakness of infancy, lay stretched upon the couch of suffering, whence it appeared too probable he might never be removed, save to the last sad resting-place of frail humanity--the grave.

-224--About the eighth day the ligature with which Ellis had tied the artery came away, and the wound a.s.sumed a rather more favourable appearance, but the fever remained unsubdued, and the delirium continued. Each day which pa.s.sed without improvement added to the length of Dr. Probehurt's solemn visage, and I could see that in his own mind he had little or no hope of the patient's recovery. Ellis was by far the most sanguine of the party, and, whenever we urged our gloomy forebodings upon him, invariably replied--"Yes, I know all that--it would have killed' any other man, but it won't kill him. Wait a bit, and you'll see."

A fortnight had now elapsed, and the continued burden of his grief began to tell visibly upon Sir John. The ruddy hue of health faded from his cheeks; his eyes grew dim with weeping, his hands shook, and his firm manly step became feeble and uncertain; it seemed as if in that short s.p.a.ce of time he had grown ten years older. My mother also began to look ill and hara.s.sed, and f.a.n.n.y, though she still kept up wonderfully, and was the life and soul of us all, waxed paler and thinner every day, while, for my own part, I could neither eat, drink, nor sleep to any efficient purpose, and divided my time between watching in the sick-room and pacing up and down the garden, beyond the precincts of which I never ventured, from a nervous dread lest anything might go wrong in my absence.

On one occasion Ellis, completely wearied out, had thrown himself on a sofa to s.n.a.t.c.h an hour's repose, while I took his place by Harry's bedside. It was between two and three o clock in the morning, and the first rays of early dawn, stealing in through the partially closed shutters, and mingling with the faint glimmer of the night-lamp, threw a pale and ghastly light over the surrounding objects, when I fancied that I heard my name p.r.o.nounced in a low, scarcely audible voice. I glanced at Ellis, but his hard and regular breathing proved him to be sound asleep. I next turned towards the bed where Harry lay, and, carefully shading the lamp with my hand, advanced with noiseless step towards it. As I approached I perceived the patient's eyes were open, and, oh, happiness I once more animated by the mild light of reason.

"Harry," whispered I, "did you call? Do you know me?"

A faint smile pa.s.sed across his pallid features as he replied in a voice so weak and low, that I was obliged to -225--stoop my head almost to a level with his lips, ere I could catch his words--"Know you, dear Frank!

why not?"

"Thank heaven," murmured I, "he is no longer delirious!"

As I again turned towards him, he endeavoured to stretch out his hand to me, but his strength was unequal even to that slight exertion, and his arm dropped heavily by his side; as it did so, he spoke again--"Frank, what is all this? I cannot--I am very weak--very tired."

"Lie still, dear Harry, and do not try to talk--it may do you harm. You have been very ill, but G.o.d in His mercy will soon, I trust, restore you to health." I then crossed over to Ellis's sofa, and laid my hand lightly upon his shoulder. "Oaklands is no longer delirious," said I, as he started up; "he knows me, and has spoken to me."

"Is he?--does he?--has he?"--exclaimed Ellis in an eager whisper. "I told you it would never kill him. Why didn't you call me before? but it's always the way; if I do by any chance fall asleep once in a week, there isn't another head properly so called in the whole house, they might as well be chair n.o.bs--Yes, I know," he continued, as I attempted to get in a word of explanation, "if you couldn't wake me before it happened, that doesn't prevent your giving me the medicine-chest now, does it?"

I may as well take this opportunity of mentioning that Ellis, though in the main one of the best-tempered fellows in the world, whenever he was particularly interested or excited, became extremely cross and snappish, and was certain at such times to scold every one who fell in his way, without the slightest regard to age, s.e.x, or station. However, it was always over in two or three minutes, and I have seen him laugh till the tears ran down his face, when the rude things he had said were repeated to him afterwards. While he was staying with his brother at Cambridge, it used to be a favourite amus.e.m.e.nt with some of the men to start a subject which they knew would excite him, for the sake of "getting a rise out of the doctor," as they termed it. But I am digressing.

The medicine Ellis gave Harry threw him into a heavy sleep, from which he did not awake until late in the morning, when he appeared perfectly conscious. The fever had in great measure abated, and on Dr. Probehurt's arrival he was fain to confess a surprising improvement had taken place, and that, if not positively out of danger, the patient was in a fair way to become so. As for Ellis, he was exactly like one beside himself.

He ran all over the house--into bedrooms and all sorts of places where -226--he had not the slightest business, shaking hands with every one, and repeating, "I knew it--I knew it--I always told you so--it would have killed any other man, but it couldn't kill him!"

Let us pa.s.s in silence over the first interview between Sir John Oaklands and his son. There are some of the deeper feelings of our nature, planted in our bosoms by the hand of G.o.d Himself, which, when called forth to their fullest extent by the chances of life, reveal so clearly their divine origin, that those who witness their display stand reverently by, and, with throbbing hearts and averted eyes, bow the head as in presence of some holy thing; and if such pure and sacred influences shed their l.u.s.tre over that meeting, and the old man wept tears of deep and fervent thankfulness on the neck of the son whom he had, as it were, received from the dead, far be it from us, with sacrilegious hand, to remove the veil which shrouds the hallowed mysteries of feeling.

From that day Oaklands began to amend slowly, and, at the end of another week, even the cautious Dr. Probehurt declared all immediate danger was over; for which admission, however, he took care fully to indemnify himself, by detailing at length every possible evil which might accrue for the future. The state of weakness to which Harry's once herculean frame was reduced was melancholy to witness; for many days he was unable to turn in his bed without a.s.sistance, and even when he began to recover his strength, it was by very slow and lingering degrees. Utterly unable to support himself, he was lifted from his bed to a sofa, and wheeled into the drawing-room, where all our powers of entertainment were called into requisition to relieve the monotony of such a state of existence.

In doing this, f.a.n.n.y made herself pre-eminently useful; by a sort of intuition she appeared to divine everything he could possibly want before he asked for it, and contrived to have it waiting his pleasure as if by magic; and yet it was done so quietly, that I believe Harry had not a notion to whom he was indebted for the forestalment of his every wish. Did his lips appear parched and dry from the low fever which still hung about him--un.o.bserved by any one, f.a.n.n.y would glide out of the room, and in another minute his servant would enter with a tray containing jelly, lemonade, or some refreshment of a like nature; and Harry would say, with a languid smile, that the fairies must have been at work, for that Wilson had brought him the very thing he was wis.h.i.+ng for. As he grew stronger, and -227--required less attention, I yielded to his request, and once more resumed my studies, reading doubly hard in order to make up for lost time. The duel had taken place early in June, but it was not until the latter end of August that the surgeons would allow of their patient's removal to the Hall. Under Ellis's directions a kind of litter was prepared, drawn by a stout Shetland pony, and hung upon a complicated arrangement of springs, by which means all possibility of jolting was avoided. With the a.s.sistance of this vehicle, Harry was enabled to take short airings in the park, and, when it was found that no ill effects ensued, a fine day was chosen, and Heathfield Hall flung wide its ample gates to receive once more within its walls the heir of that n.o.ble property. It was a glad day for every one--the old servants shed mingled tears of joy and sorrow; of joy that their young master had been spared to come among them again, and of sorrow when they gazed on his pallid cheeks and long thin hands, and thought of the amount of suffering that manly frame must have undergone ere it could have become such a wreck of its former self.

After his return home Oaklands progressed very slowly; he so far recovered as to walk about the house and garden with the a.s.sistance of Ellis's arm; but the wound in his side still presented an unsatisfactory appearance, and obstinately refused to heal. Ellis's skill and attention were unparalleled; he took the greatest interest in the case, and though he pretended that his zeal was entirely professional, yet it was clear the fascination which Harry seemed unconsciously to exercise over every one who became intimate with him, had subdued even the st.u.r.dy doctor, and that he had conceived the strongest affection for his patient.

The only one of the party on whom the fatigue and anxiety appeared to have produced any lasting effect was dear little f.a.n.n.y, and she continued to look much more pale and thin than I liked to see her. Her spirits, also, seemed less gay and buoyant than usual, and when Sir John and Harry left us, and she had no longer any motive for exertion, a kind of languor came over her, producing a listless distaste for all her former employments; and she would sit for hours poring over one of the Italian poets, without exchanging a word with any one. In order, if possible, to rouse her from this state of apathy, I used every means in my power to interest and amuse her; but, unfortunately, my time was now so fully occupied that I had little leisure to bestow upon her. I -228--was to take my degree at the commencement of the new year; and, as I had made up my mind to try for honours, I had not a moment to lose, and read eight hours a day. The rest of my time was devoted to Sir John and Harry (save an odd hour or two for a const.i.tutional scamper with my gun through the preserves to keep down the rabbits, or a gallop across country to prevent the hunters from getting too fat), and our kind friends were never so well pleased as when they could persuade us all to come to them. My sister, however, seemed to prefer dreaming over her book to the exertion of accompanying us to the Hall, and even when she did so, appeared unequal to the labour of amusing Harry, and devoted herself to the more easy task of pleasing Sir John, who, happy beyond expression in the prospect of his son's recovery, was in the highest good humour with everybody and everything. Becoming at length far from satisfied about f.a.n.n.y, I mentioned my uneasiness to my mother, who comforted me by the a.s.surance, that she considered it merely the natural consequences of the fatigue and anxiety she had undergone, a sort of reaction of the spirits, for which time and rest would prove the most effectual cure.

And once again the leaves upon the trees grew brown, presenting, in their varied richness, those exquisite shades of colouring that gladden a painter's eye--and the swallows, those summer parasites, taking alarm at the first sharp blast from the north, had departed to prosecute their annual pursuit of suns.h.i.+ne under difficulties, leaving the honest robin redbreast to renew his friends.h.i.+p with the race of men--when I, dissatisfied and anxious about those I was leaving behind me, and nervous in the highest degree as to the result of the struggle for distinction in which I was about to engage, once more took up my abode at Trinity.-229--

CHAPTER XXIX -- THE STRUGGLE IN CHESTERTON MEADOW

"Men Put forth their sons to seek preferment out.

Some to the studious universities, For any or for all these exercises."

"Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about you; If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you."

"A rescue! a rescue! Good people bring a rescue or two!"

"Construe me, art thou a gentleman? What is thy name?

Discuss!"

--_Shakspeare_.

HAVING now no one to interfere with me, I determined to read as hard as my powers, mental and bodily, would allow, so as to give my talents, be they great or small, full scope, and endeavour to evince my grat.i.tude to my unknown benefactor in the only manner that lay open to me, _i.e._, by proving to him that his liberality had not been thrown away. As the men began to come up, I took care to let it be generally known among my friends that I was reading steadily and in earnest, with a view of going out in honours; and when they became convinced that this was the case, and that whenever I "sported oak" there was positively "no admittance,"

they left me to my fate, as one who, in the words of Lawless, "having strayed from the paths of virtue and--eh!--what do you call it?

--jollity--had fallen a victim to the vice of mathematics--not a hope of recovery--a regular case of hydrostatics on the brain--eh! don't you see?"