towards four o'clock in the morning joe woke up from a short sleep and suddenly put questions to elsie about his safety in that strange house, and also he inquired whose bed he was in.
"you're in my bed, joe," she answered, kneeling again by the bedside, so as to have her face close to his and to whisper more intimately; and she told him the situation of the household and how her mistress had been carried to the hospital for an operation, and how her master was laid up with an unascertained disease, and how she alone had effective power in the house.
then joe began excitedly to talk of his adventures in the past twelve months, and she perceived that a change for the worse had come over him and that he was very ill. both his voice and his glance indicated some development of the malady.
"don't tell me now, joe dear," she stopped him. "i want to hear it all, but you must rest now. to-morrow, after you've had another good sleep. i must just go and look at mr. earlforward for a minute."
she offered him a drink of water and left him, less to look at mr. earlforward than in order to give him an opportunity to calm himself, if that was possible. she knew that in certain moods solitude was best for him, ill or well. and she went down the dark stairs to the other bedroom, which was nearly as cold as the ice-cold stairs.
mr. earlforward also was worse. he seemed to be in a fever, yet looked like a corpse. her arrival clearly gave him deep relief; he upbraided her for neglecting him; but somewhat timidly and cautiously, as one who feels[pg 261] himself liable to reprisals which could not be resisted. elsie stayed with him and tended him for a quarter of an hour, and then went to the kitchen, which the extravagant gas-ring was gently keeping warm, while it warmed water and tried to dry joe's miserable clothes.
elsie had to think. both men under her charge were seriously ill, and she knew not what was the matter with either of them. supposing that one of them died on her hands before the morning, or that both of them died! all her bliss at the reappearance of joe had vanished. she had horrible thoughts, thoughts of which she was ashamed but which she could not dismiss. if anyone was to die she wanted it to be mr. earlforward. more, she could not help wishing that mr. earlforward would in any case die. she had solemnly promised mr. earlforward never to desert him, and a promise was a promise. if he lived, and "anything happened" to mrs. earlforward, she was a prisoner for life. and if joe lived mr. earlforward would never agree to her marrying him and having him in the house with her, as would assuredly be necessary, having regard to joe's health. whereas with mr. earlforward out of the way she would be her own mistress and could easily assume full charge of joe. strange that so angelically kind and unselfish a creature could think so murderously; but think thus she did.
further, the double responsibility which impulsively she had assumed weighed upon her with a crushing weight. never had that always anxious brow been so puckered up with anxiety and hesitancy as now. ought the doctor to be instantly summoned? but she could not fetch him herself; she dared not even leave her patients long enough to let her run over to the square and rouse one of her friends there. and, moreover, she had a curious compunction about disturbing the doctor two nights in succession, and this compunction somehow counted in the balance against even men's lives! she simply did not know what to do. she desperately needed counsel, and could not get it. on the whole she considered that the doctor should be sent for. many scores,[pg 262] perhaps hundreds, of people were sleeping within a hundred yards of her. was there not one among them to whom she could appeal? she returned to joe. he was talking in his sleep. she went to the window, opened it, and gazed out.
a lengthy perspective of the back yards of the houses in king's cross road stretched out before her; a pattern of dark walls—wall, yard, wall, yard, wall, yard—and the joint masonries of every pair of dwellings jutting out at regular intervals in back-rooms additional to the oblongs of the houses. the sky was clear, a full moon had dimmed the stars; and fine weather, which would have been a boon to the day, was being wasted on the unconscious night. the moonlight glinted here and there on window-glass. every upper window marked a bedroom. and in every bedroom were souls awake or asleep. not a window lit, except one at the end of the vista. perhaps behind that window somebody was suffering and somebody watching. or it might be only that somebody was rising to an interminable, laborious day. the heavy night of the town oppressed elsie dreadfully. she had noticed that a little dog kennelled in the yard of the very next house to t. t. riceyman's was fitfully moaning and yapping. then a light flickered into a steady gleam behind a window of this same house, less than a dozen feet away, with an uncanny effect upon elsie. the light waned to nothing, and shortly afterwards the back-door opened, and the figure of a young woman in a loose gown, with unbound hair, was silhouetted against the radiance of a candle within the house. across the tiny backyard of t. t.'s elsie could plainly see the woman, whose appearance was totally unfamiliar to her. a soul living close to her perhaps for months and years, and she did not know her from eve! elsie wanted to call out to her, but dared not. a pretty face, the woman had, only it was hard, exasperated, angry. the woman advanced menacingly upon the young, chained dog, and the next moment there was one sharp yell, followed by a diminuendo succession of yells. "that'll learn ye to keep[pg 263] people awake all night," elsie heard a thin, inimical voice say. the woman returned to the house. the dog began again to yap and moan. the woman ran out in a fury, picked up the animal and flung it savagely into the kennel. elsie could hear the thud of its soft body against the wood. she shrank back, feeling sick. the woman retired from her victory; the door was locked; the light showed once more at the bedroom window, and went out; the infant dog, as cold and solitary as ever, and not in the least comprehending the intention of the treatment which it had received, issued from the kennel and resumed its yapping and moaning.
"poor little thing!" murmured the ingenuous elsie, and shut the window.
no! she could not send anybody at all for the doctor. common sense came to her aid. she must wait till morning. a few hours, and it would be full day. and the risk of a disaster in those few hours was exceedingly small. she must not be a silly, frightened little fool. joe was still talking in his restless sleep. she quickly made up the fire, and then revisited mr. earlforward, who also was asleep and talking. after a moment she fetched a comb and went to the kitchen, washed her face and hands in warm water, took down her blue-black hair, combed it and did it up. and she put on a clean apron. she had to look nice and fresh for her patients when the next day should start. for her night and day were now the same; her existence had become continuous—no break in consciousness—it ran on and on and on. she did not feel tired. on the contrary, she felt intensely alive and energetic and observant, and had no desire for sleep. and her greed seemed to have left her.
