A Reconstructed Marriage Part 23

"I will not have a doctor brought here," said Mrs. Campbell in pa.s.sionate tones. "I will not have one! There is no necessity for a doctor. I say----"

"Say nothing at all, ma'am. Do you ken it was the Bible you flung across the room? What devil put it into your heart and hand to do the like o'

that unforgiveable sin? I'm feared to be in the room wi' you, mistress.

You'll never dare to pray again, you meeserable woman, you!"

For a few minutes Mrs. Campbell was really shocked. She went to the book, straightened out its leaves, and laid it on the table. "I did not know it was the Bible, McNab," she said. "No one respects the Holy Scriptures more than I do. I regret----"

"The deed is done. There's nae good in respecting and regretting now.

Come here and help us to do what we can, till the doctor comes."

"I will not. It is her fault. She would make an angel sin. I am innocent, perfectly innocent. My G.o.d, what a tribulation the creature is!"

"I wouldna name G.o.d, if I was you," said McNab scornfully. "Maybe He'll forget you, if you dinna remind Him o' your sinfu' self."

"McNab, I give you notice to leave my house at once."

"That is more like you, Mistress Campbell, but I'm not going out o' this house till the master says so. I am his hired woman, not yours, thank G.o.d! and I am not feared to speak the Holy Name, as you may well be.

Here's the doctor--thank G.o.d again for that mercy! You had better leave the room, or you'll be getting the words you're well deserving, mistress."

"I shall stay just where I am."

"You're a dour woman; you are that."

Dr. Fleming entered as the last words were spoken. He brought with him an atmosphere of help and strength, and barely glancing at Mrs. Campbell he knelt down beside the sick woman. In a few moments he rose, and calling Jepson, ordered him to "go to No. 400 Renfrew Street, and bring back with him Jean Malcolm."

"I cannot spare Jepson, doctor," said Mrs. Campbell. "It is nearly time to serve dinner."

"Do as I tell you, man, and be off at once. Don't waste a moment. Take a cab."

"Doctor----"

"Mrs. Campbell, this is a serious case. We have no time to think of dinners. I fear there is a slight concussion of the brain."

Then turning to McNab, he said: "There must be a mattress brought down here, and I shall want two men to carry the patient upstairs. Have you men in the house?"

"No, sir, none worth the name o' men. I'll step over to the hotel and get a couple o' their porters."

"That will do."

"Doctor, if there are any extraordinary arrangements to make, I am Mrs.

Traquair Campbell."

"I know you, Mrs. Campbell. I have a very true knowledge of you."

"Then, sir, give your orders to me. What do you wish?"

"I wish you to leave the room. If your dinner is ready, you had better eat it. I may want your man for some time."

"Sir, you are rude. Will you remember this is my house?"

"It is not your house. It is your son's house, and this lady, I take it, is his wife. So then, it is her house."

"Yes, she is my son's wife, more's the pity, more's the shame, more's the sorrow----"

"My G.o.d, woman! Have you no heart, no pity, no sense of duty to a sick woman?" As he spoke he rose, and with an angry face and long strides walked to the door and threw it wide open, uttering only one fierce word: "_Go!_"

A better and a more powerful spirit than her own gave this order, and she perforce obeyed it; but when she reached the dining-room, she threw herself on the sofa in a frantic pa.s.sion.

"I have been insulted," she cried. "I have been insulted shamefully. Oh, Isabel! that woman will be the death of me!"

"Perhaps she will die herself, mother. Ducie says she has hurt her brain in falling--a concussion, she said."

"Not a bad concussion, though----"

"No, a slight one, but one never knows, and she is so excitable----"

Thus they comforted each other until the porters arrived, and went upstairs for the mattress. Their rough voices and heavy feet, and the natural confusion attending their business roused Mrs. Campbell and her daughters to a pitch of distraction, only to be relieved by motion and loud talking. Walking up and down the room, and striking her large cruel hands together, Mrs. Campbell was heard above all the confusion attending the removal of Theodora; and in the midst of this confusion, Robert came home.

"Whatever is the matter, Jepson?" he asked in an angry voice.

"The doctor will tell you, sir. I fear my young mistress is dying."

He did not answer, but went rapidly to his rooms. They were in the utmost disorder, the windows open and the rooms empty. He rushed upstairs then, and Dr. Fleming met him at the door of Theodora's room.

"Doctor, where is my wife? What is wrong?"

"She had a long fainting fit, fell heavily, and has, I fear, slight concussion of the brain."

"What cause, what reason was there?"

"Her maid will tell you. I will send her."

"But I must see my wife first!"

"You cannot. I shall stay here until I judge it safe to leave her. I have sent for a competent nurse, and expect her every moment."

"Surely, doctor--there is no fear--of death."

"I should not like another lapse of consciousness."

Robert did not speak. He steadied himself by grasping the bal.u.s.ter, and the doctor left him, and sent out Ducie.

"How did this happen, Ducie?" he asked.

Then Ducie told him everything. She described the way her mistress was sitting, and the entrance of Mrs. Campbell. She remembered the words, and the tones in which the conversation had taken place, and the inability of her mistress to answer the last two questions--the s.n.a.t.c.hing of the book from the table, and the flinging of it to the end of the room, and after an emphatic pause she added: "The book was the Bible, sir."

Campbell had not spoken a word during Ducie's recital, but at her last remark he started as if shocked, and then said: "You have told me the truth, Ducie?"

"Nothing but the truth. Ask Jepson."