"it was too true; mrs. rane was dead," said sympathizing people one to the other; for even that same night the sad tidings went partially out to dallory. what with the death of hepburn the undertaker, and now the doctor's wife--both prominent people, as might be said, in connection with the sickness--something like consternation fell on those who heard it. dr. rane carried the news himself to dallory hall, catching mr. north just as he was going to bed, and imparting it to him in the most gentle and soothing manner in his power. fearing that if left until morning, it might reach him abruptly, the doctor had thus made haste. from thence he went on to hepburn's. he had chanced to meet francis dallory in coming out of seeley's; he met some one else he knew; these carried the tidings to others; so that many heard of it that night.
but now we come to a strange and singular thing that happened to jelly. jelly in her tart way was sufficiently good-hearted. there was sickness in ketler's house: the wife had her three days' old infant: the little girl, cissy, grew worse and weaker: and jelly chose to sacrifice an afternoon to nursing them. much as she disapproved of the man's joining the trades' union and upholding the strike, often as she had assured him that both starving and the workhouse, whichever he might prefer, were too good for him, now that misfortune lay upon the house, jelly came-to a little. susan ketler was her cousin; and, after all, she was not to blame for her husband's wrong doings. accordingly, in the afternoon of the last day of mrs. rane's illness, jelly went forth to ketler's, armed with some beef-tea, and a few scraps for the half-famished children, the whole enclosed in a reticule.
"i shall take the latch-key," she said, in starting, to the cook, who was commonly called dinah, "so you can go to bed. if susan ketler's very ill i shall stop late. mind you put a box of matches on the slab in the hall."
susan ketler was not very ill, jelly found; but the child, cissy, was. so ill, that jelly hardly knew whether to leave her at all, or not. the mother could not attend to her; ketler had gone tramping off beyond whitborough after union work, and had not returned. only that she thought mrs. cumberland would not be pleased if she came to hear that jelly, the confidential servant in charge, had stayed out for a night, leaving the house with only the cook in it, she had certainly remained. at past twelve poor ketler arrived home, dead beat, sick, faint, having walked several miles without food. jelly blew him up a little: she considered that the man who could refuse work when his children were starving, because he belonged to the trades' union, deserved nothing but blowing-up: bade him look to cissy, told him ungraciously that there was a loaf in the pan, and departed. ketler, ready to drop though he was, civilly offered to see her home; but all the thanks he received in return, was a recommendation to attend to his own concerns and not to meddle with hers.
it was a fine, still night, rather too warm for the illness that had fallen upon dallory; and jelly walked on at a swift pace, her reticule, empty now, on her arm. some women might have felt timid at the midnight walk: jelly was too strong-minded to feel anything of the sort. she certainly found it a little lonely on entering the ham, as if the road under the overshadowing trees, beginning now to lose some of their leaves, had something weird about it. but this part was soon passed; and jelly came to the houses, and within sight of home. not a soul met she: it was as dreary, as far as human companionship went, as it could be. a black cat sprang suddenly from the hedge, and tore across the road almost touching jelly's feet; and it made her start.
she began thinking about mrs. rane; quite unconscious of the death that had taken place. when jelly left home in the afternoon mrs. rane was said to be in danger: at least such was phillis's opinion, privately communicated: but, late in the evening, news had been brought to keller's that all danger was over. mrs. rane was in a refreshing sleep, and going on safely to recovery.
"and i'm downright glad of it, poor young lady!" said jelly, half aloud, as she turned in at her gate. "doctors' wives are naturally more exposed to the chance of catching infectious illnesses. but on the other hand they have the best advice and care at hand."
it was striking one. letting herself in with the latch-key, jelly felt for the box of matches, passing her hand cautiously over the marble table. and passed it in vain: no matches were there.
"forgetful hussy!" ejaculated jelly, apostrophizing the unconscious dinah. "much good she's of!"
so jelly crept quietly upstairs in the dark, knowing she had matches in her own chamber: and in a minute came upon another of the negligent dinah's delinquencies. she had omitted to draw down the blind of the large window on the landing.
"she has been out at that back-door, talking to people," quoth jelly in her wrath. "just like her! won't she catch it from me in the morning!"
turning to draw the blind herself, she was suddenly arrested, with the cord in her hand, by something on the opposite landing, at dr. rane's. standing there, dressed in something white, which jelly at the time thought looked like a nightgown, was mrs. rane. the landing was faintly lighted, as if by some distant candle; but mrs. rane was perfectly visible, her features and even their expression quite clear. the first thought that crossed jelly was, that mrs. rane was delirious: but she looked too still for that. she did not move; and the eyes gazed with a fixed stare, as it seemed to jelly. but that she herself must have been invisible in the surrounding darkness, she would have thought mrs. rane was staring at her. for a full minute this lasted: jelly watching, mrs. rane never moving.
"what in the world brings her standing there?" quoth jelly in her amazement. "and what can she be staring at? it can't be at me."
but at that moment jelly's bag slipped from her arm, and fell on the carpet. it caused her to remove her gaze from the opposite landing for a single second--it really did not seem longer. when she looked again, the place was in darkness: mrs. rane and the faint light had both disappeared.
"she has no business to be out of her bed--and the doctor ought to tell her so if he's at home," thought jelly. "anyway, she must be a great deal better: for i don't think it's delirium."
she waited a short time, but nothing more was seen. drawing down the blind, jelly picked up her bag, and passed on to her own chamber--one of the back rooms on this first floor. there she slept undisturbed until morning.
she did not get up until late. being amenable to no one whilst mrs. cumberland was away, the house's mistress in fact, as well as dinah's, jelly did not hurry herself. she was not lazy in general, especially on a saturday, but as she felt tired after her weary afternoon at ketler's and from having gone so late to rest. breakfast was ready in the kitchen when she went down; dinah--a red-faced young woman in a brown-spotted cotton gown--being busy at the fire with the coffee.
"now then!" began jelly--her favourite phrase when she was angry. "what have you to say for yourself? whereabouts on the slab did you put those matches last night?"
dinah, taken-to, tilted the kettle back. until that moment she had not thought of her negligence.
"i'm afraid i never put 'em at all," she said.
"no you didn't put 'em," retorted jelly with sharp emphasis. "but for having matches and a candle in my room, i must have undressed in the dark. and i should like to know why you didn't put 'em; and what you were about not to do it?"
"i'm sure i'm sorry," said dinah, who was a tractable sort of girl. "i forgot it, i suppose, in the upset about poor mrs. rane."
"in the upset about poor mrs. rane," scornfully repeated jelly. "what upset you, pray, about her?--and you've never been out to fasten back the shutters!"
"she's dead," answered dinah--and the tears came into the girl's eyes. "that's what i've got the shutters half-to for. i thought you'd most likely not have heard it."
a little confusion arose in jelly's mind. thought is rapid. mrs. rane's death, as she supposed, could not possibly have occurred before morning: the neglect, as to the matches, was last night. but, in the present shock she passed this over. her sharp tone disappeared as by magic: her expression changed to sadness.
"dead? when did she die, dinah?"
"it was about nine o'clock last night, they think. and she lay an hour after that in her bed, jelly, before it was found out."
on hearing this, jelly's first impression was that dinah must be trifling with her. the girl came from the fire with the coffee, the tears visible.
"now what d'ye mean, girl? mrs. rane didn't die last night--as i can answer for."
"oh but she did, jelly. dr. rane went up to her at ten o'clock--he had been out till then--and found her dead. i can tell you, i didn't half like going all the way up to bed by myself to that top floor, and me alone in the house, knowing she was lying there at the very next door."
jelly paused to take in the full sense of the words, staring the while at dinah. what could it all mean?
"you must have taken leave of your senses," she said, as she began to pour out the coffee.
"i'm sure i've not," returned dinah. "why?"
"to tell me mrs. rane died last night. how did you pick up the tale?"
"jelly, it's no tale. it's as true as you and me's here. i was standing at the front gate for a breath of air, before shutting-up, when dr. rane came out of his house in a hurry, and went across to mr. seeley's. it struck me that mrs. rane might be worse and that he had gone to fetch the other, so i stayed a bit to see. presently--it wasn't long--he came back across the road again. mr. francis dallory happened to be passing, and he asked after mrs. rane. she was dead, the doctor said; and went on to tell him how he had found her. you needn't look as if you thought i was making-up stories, jelly. they stood close by the doctor's gate, and i heard every word."
jelly did not precisely know how she looked. if this was true, why--what could be the meaning of what she had seen in the night?
"she can't be dead?"
"she is," said dinah. "why should you dispute it?"
jelly did riot say why. she drank her hot coffee, and went out. she did not believe it. dinah evidently did: but the girl might have caught up some wrong story.
the first thing that struck jelly, when outside, was the appearance of the doctor's house. it was closely shut up, doors and windows, and the blinds were down. as jelly stood, looking up, she saw mr. seeley standing at his door without his hat. she went over and accosted him.
"is it true, sir, that mrs. rane is dead?"
"quite true," was the answer. "she died yesterday evening, poor lady. it was terribly sudden."
jelly felt a very queer sensation come over her. but she was still full of disbelief. mr. seeley was called from within, and jelly returned and knocked softly at dr. rane's door. phillis opened it, her eyes red with crying.
"phillis, what is all this?" demanded jelly, in low tones. "when did she die?"
"stop," interposed phillis, barring her entrance. "you'd better not come in. i am not afraid: and, for the matter of that, somebody must be here: but it isn't well for those to run risks that needn't. the doctor says it was the quickest and most malignant case of them all."
"i never caught any disorder in my life, and i don't fear that i ever shall," answered jelly, quietly making her way to the kitchen. "when did she die, phillis?"
"about nine o'clock last evening, as is thought. the minute and hour will never be known for sure: at ten, when the doctor found her, she was getting cold. and for us below to have thought her quietly sleeping!" wound up phillis with a sob.
the queer sensation increased. jelly had never experienced anything like it in her whole life. she stood against the dresser, staring helplessly at phillis.
"i don't think she could have died last evening," whispered jelly presently.
"and i'm sure i as little thought she was dying," returned phillis. "the last time i went up was about half-after seven: she was asleep then; that i'm positive of; and it seemed a good healthy sleep, for the breathing was as regular as could be. sometime after eight o'clock, master went up: he came down and said she was still sleeping, and he hoped she'd sleep till morning, and i'd better not go up again for fear of disturbing her. i didn't go up, jelly. i knew if she woke and wanted anything she'd ring: the bell-rope was to her hand. master went out to a patient, and i cleared up the kitchen here. he came in at ten o'clock. i was ready to go, but asked him if i should stay all night. there was no need, he answered, missis being better; and i went. i never heard nothing more till i came this morning. the milkman got to the door just as i did; and he began saying what a sad thing it was that she had died. 'who had died,' i asked him, and he said, 'why, my missis.' jelly, you might have knocked me down with a breath of wind."
by jelly's looks at this moment, it seemed as if a breath of wind might have done the same for her. her face and lips had turned livid.
"the master opened the door to me: and told me all about it: about his finding her dead close upon my going out," continued phillis. "he's frightfully cut up, poor man. not that there's any tears, but his face is heavy and sad, like one who has never been in bed all night--as he hasn't been. i found a blanket on the dining-room sofa, so he must have lain down there."
"where is he now?" asked jelly.
"out. he was fetched to somebody at dallory. i must stir up the pots," added phillis, alluding to the earthen jars that stood about with disinfectants. "master charged me to do it every hour. it's safer for the undertaker's men and others that have to come to the house."
armed with a piece of stick, she went into the hall, and gave the contents of each jar a good stir. the dining-room door was open: dr. rane's solitary breakfast was spread there, waiting for him. from thence, phillis went up the staircase to the other jars. jelly followed.
"nasty stuff! i do hate the smell of it," muttered phillis. "i wouldn't come up if i were you," she added to jelly, in the low, hushed voice that we are all apt to use when near the dead.
jelly disregarded the injunction. she believed herself safe: and was not given to following advice at the best of times. "what's that?" she exclaimed when she reached the landing.
the sheet that had been flapping for two days outside the bedroom door, now flapped, wet as ever, on the landing before the door of the ante-room. dr. rane considered this the better place for it now. phillis knocked it a little with the stick to bring out its properties.
compared with the gloom of the rest of the house, with its drawn blinds, this landing, with its wide, staring, uncovered window, was especially bright. jelly glanced round, it might have been thought nervously, only that she was not a nervous woman. here, in the middle of the floor, at one o'clock in the morning, her face turned to that window, had stood mrs. rane. if not mrs. rane--who?--or what?
"phillis," whispered jelly, "i should like to see her."
"you can't," answered phillis.
"nonsense. i am not afraid."
"but you can't, jelly. she is fastened down."
"she is---- why what do you mean?" broke off jelly.
phillis took up a corner of the sheet, unlocked the door--in which the key was left--and opened it half an inch for jelly to peep in. there, in the middle of the grey room stood a closed coffin, supported on trestles. in the shock of surprise jelly fell back against the wall, and began to tremble.
the idea that came over her--as she said to some one afterwards--was, that mrs. rane had been put into the coffin alive. what with the sight of the previous night (and jelly did not yet fully admit to herself what that sight might have been), and what with this, she felt in a sort of hopeless horror and bewilderment. recovering a little, she pushed past the sheet into the room, but with creeping, timid steps.
"jelly, i wouldn't go in! the master charged me not to do so."
but jelly heard not. or, if she heard, did not heed. it was a common deal shell: nailed down. jelly touched it with her finger.
"when was she put in here, phillis?"
"sometime during the night."
"and fastened down at once?"
"to be sure. i found it like this when i came this morning."
"but--why need there have been so much haste?"
"because it was safest so. safest for us that are living, as my master said. the leaden one will be here to-day."
well--of course it was safer. jelly could but acknowledge it, and recovered somewhat. she wished she had not seen--that--in the night. it was that sight, so unaccountable, that was now troubling her mind so strangely.
with her usual want of ceremony, jelly opened the bedroom door and looked in. it had not been put straight: phillis said her master would not let her go in to do anything to it until the two rooms should have been disinfected. medicine bottles stood about; the bed-clothes lay over the foot of the bed, just as hepburn's men must have placed them when they removed the dead. on the dressing-table lay a bow of blue ribbon that poor bessy had worn in her gown the last day she had one on, a waistband with his buckle, and other trifles. jelly began to feel oppressed, as if her breath were growing short, and came away hastily. phillis stood on the landing beyond the sheet.
"it seems like a dream, phillis."
"i wish we could awake and find it one," answered phillis, practically, as she turned the key in the lock; and they went downstairs.
not a minute too soon. before they had well reached the kitchen, dr. rane's latch-key was heard.
"there's the master," cried phillis under her breath, as he turned into his consulting-room. "it's a good thing he didn't find us up there."
"i want to say a word to him, phillis; i think i'll go in," said jelly, taking a sudden resolution to acquaint dr. rane with what she had seen. the truth was, her mind felt so unhinged, knowing not what to believe or disbelieve, that she thought she must speak, or die.
"need you bother him now?--what's it about?" asked phillis. "i'd let him get his breakfast first."
but jelly went on to the consulting-room; and found herself very nearly knocked down by the doctor--who was turning quickly out of it. she asked if she could speak to him: he said yes, if she made haste; but he wanted to catch mr. seeley before the latter went out.
"and your breakfast, sir?" called out phillis in compassionate tones.
"i'll take some presently," was the answer. "what is it you want, jelly?"
jelly carefully closed the door before speaking. she then entered on her tale. at first the doctor supposed, by all this caution, that she was about to consult him on some private ailment of her own; st. anthony's fire in the face, for instance, or st. vitus's dance in the legs; and thought she might have chosen a more fitting moment. but he soon found it was nothing of the sort. with her hands pressing heavily the back of the patients' chair, jelly told her tale. the doctor stood facing her, his arms folded, his back to the drawn blind. at first he did not appear to understand her.
"saw my wife upon the landing in her nightgown?" he exclaimed--and jelly thought he looked startled. "surely she was not so imprudent as to get out of bed and go there!"
"but, sir, it is said that she was then dead!"
"dead when? she did not die until nine o'clock. she could not have known what she was doing," continued dr. rane, passing his hand over his forehead. "perhaps she may then have caught a chill. perhaps----"
"you are misunderstanding me, sir," interrupted jelly. "it was in the night i saw this; some hours after mrs. rane's death."
dr. rane looked bewildered. he gazed narrowly at jelly, as if wondering what it was she would infer.
"not last night?"
"yes, sir. or, i'd rather say this morning; for it was one o'clock. i saw her standing there as plainly as i see you at this moment."
"why, jelly, you must have been dreaming?"
"i was as wide awake, sir, as i am now. i had just got home from ketler's. i can't think what it was i did see," added jolly, dropping her voice.
"you saw nothing," was the decisive answer--and in the doctor's tone there was some slight touch of anger. "fancy plays tricks with the best of us: it must have played you one last night."
"i have been thinking whether it was possible that--that--she was not really dead, sir," persisted jelly. "whether she could have got up, and----"
"be silent, jelly. i cannot listen to this folly," came the stern interruption. "you have no right to let your imagination run away with you, and then talk of it as reality. i desire that you will never speak another word upon the subject to me; or to any one."
jelly's green eyes seem to have borrowed the doctor's bewildered look. she gazed into his face. this was a most curious business: she could not see as yet the faintest gleam of a solution to it.
"it was surely her i saw on the landing, sir, dead or alive. i could swear to it. such things have been heard of before now as swoons being mistaken for death. when poor mrs. rane was left alone after her death--that is, her supposed death--if she revived; and got up; and came out upon the landing----"
"hold your tongue," interposed the doctor, sharply. "how dare you persist in this nonsense, woman! you must be mad or dreaming. an hour before the time you speak of, my poor wife, dead and cold, was where she is now--fastened down in her shell."
he abruptly left the room with an indignant movement; leaving jelly speechless with horror.
"fastened down," ran her thoughts, "at twelve o'clock--dead and cold--and i saw her on the landing at one! oh, my goodness, what does it mean?"
