'Doc.' Gordon Read online

  CHAPTER IX

  When Clemency and James returned from their drive, they saw a glimmer oflight between the house and stable. "Aaron is out there with a lantern,"whispered Clemency. She sat up straight, leaned into her corner of thebuggy, and adjusted her hat and straightened her hair with the prettyyoung girl motions of secrecy and modesty.

  James peered ahead into the darkness through which the lantern movedlike a will-o'-the-wisp. "Your uncle is here, too," he said. Then hedrew rein with a sudden, "Halloo, what is wrong?" Aaron came forward,leaving the lantern on the ground. It lit weirdly Dr. Gordon, who waskneeling on the ground beside a dark mass, which looked horriblysuggestive. Then James saw another dark mass to the right, the balkymare and a buggy.

  "Doctor Gordon says you had better hitch to this post here," said Aaronin a sort of hoarse whisper, "and then come to him. He says he needshelp, and Miss Clemency, he says, must go around the house and in thefront door, and be careful not to let the dog out, but go upstairs, andif her mother is awake, tell her it ain't anything for her to fretabout, and Doctor Gordon will be in very soon."

  "Oh, Aaron, what is the matter?" said Clemency, in a frightened whisper,as James sprang out of the buggy.

  "It ain't nothin'," replied Aaron doggedly. "Jest a man fell coming tothe office. Reckon he had a jag on. Doctor says he may have broke a rib.He's doctorin' him. You jest run round the house, and in the front door,Miss Clemency, and don't let out the dog, an' see to your ma."

  James assisted Clemency out, and she fled, with a wild glance over hershoulder at the lantern-lit group in front of the office door. WhileAaron tied the horse to the post James ran to Doctor Gordon. When hedrew nearer the sight became sanguinary in its details, and he couldhear from the office the raging growls and howls of the dog. He alsoheard him leap against the door, as if he would break it down. Gordonhad a pail of water and a basin beside him, and he was applying watervigorously to the throat of the prostrate figure. The water in thebasin gleamed, in the lantern light, blood red. "Just empty this basinand fill it up from the pail," ordered Gordon in a husky voice, andagain he squeezed the reddened cloth over the throat, which James nowdiscerned was badly torn. The man lay doubled up upon himself as limp asa rag.

  "No, I don't think so," replied Gordon, as if in answer to an unspokenquestion, as James, having complied with his request, drew near with thebasin of fresh water.

  "Was it the dog?" asked James in a low voice.

  "Yes, the fool came round to the office door, and--" Gordon stopped witha miserable sigh which was almost a groan, and dipped the cloth in thebasin.

  "How did you get him off?" asked James.

  "I had the whip, and Aaron came in just then with that damned mare. Shehad balked. I don't think it is the jugular. It can't be. Damn it, howhe bleeds! Run into the office, Elliot, and get the absorbent cotton andthe brandy. I've got to stop this somehow. Oh, my God!"

  James suddenly recognized the man on the ground, and gave an exclamationwhich Gordon did not seem to notice. "For God's sake, don't let thatdog out!" he cried. "Don't risk the office door. Go around the house,the front way! Be quick!"

  James obeyed. He rushed around the house, and opened the front door.Immediately Clemency was clinging to him in the dim vestibule. "Motheris asleep. I think Uncle Tom must have given her some medicine to makeher sleep. Oh, what is the matter? Who is that man out there, and whatails him, and what ails the dog? I started to go in the office, but heleapt against the door, so I didn't. I was afraid he might get out andrun upstairs and wake mother. Oh, what is it all about?"

  "Nothing for you to worry about, dear," replied James. "Now you must bea good little girl, and let me go. Your uncle is in a hurry for somethings in the office." He put away her clinging arms gently, and hurriedon toward the office, but the girl followed him. "If I don't stand readyto shut the door behind you, that dog will be out," she said. All atonce a conviction as to something seized her, and she cried out interror and horror, "Oh, I know it is that man out there, and Jack wantsto get at him. I know."

  "It is nothing for you to worry about, dear."

  "I know. Is he going to die? Is he hurt much?"

  "No, your uncle doesn't think so. Don't hinder me, dear."

  "No, I won't. I will stand ready and bang the door together after youbefore Jack can get out. Oh, it is that man!" Clemency washalf-hysterical, but she stood her ground. When James opened the officedoor cautiously and slipped through the opening, she pushed it togetherwith surprising strength. "Don't get bitten yourself," she called outanxiously.

  For a moment James thought that he might be bitten, for the dog was sofrenzied that he was almost past the point of recognizing his friends.He made a powerful leap upon James, the crest upon his back as rigid assteel, but James snatched at his collar, threw him, and spoke, and thewell-trained animal succumbed before his voice. "Charge!" thundered theyoung man, and the dog obeyed, although still bristling and growling.James hurriedly caught up his leash and fastened him to the staple, thenhe opened the inner office door, and spoke quickly and reassuringly toClemency, who was huddled behind it shaking with fear. "He is allright. I have fastened him," he said. "Don't worry. Now I must go andhelp your uncle."

  "He didn't bite you?"

  "Oh, no, he knew me the minute I spoke. Sit down here by the fire anddon't be frightened; that's a good little girl."

  With that James was out by the other door and in the drive besideGordon, who was still assiduously applying water to the red throat ofthe prostrate man. "It is beginning to slack up a little," he saidhoarsely. "Here, give me the cotton, and see if you can't get a drop ofbrandy between his teeth. They are clinched, but just now he moved alittle. He may be able to swallow. Aaron, put the team into the wagon,and get a mattress and some blankets from the storeroom. Hurry, he maycome to himself any minute, and he must not stay here any longer thannecessary." Gordon was working fiercely as he spoke, and James took thecork from the brandy flask, and attempted to force a little between theman's clinched teeth. Aaron hurried into the stable and lit anotherlantern, and went about executing his orders. James, kneeling over theprostrate man, attempting to minister to him, saw the face fully in theglare of the lantern. The unconscious face did not look as evil as heremembered it. He even had a doubt if it were the face of the man whohad that evening stood at his horse's head, and so terrified Clemency.Then he became convinced that it was the same. There could be nomistaking the features, which were unusually regular and handsome, butwith a strange peculiarity of lines. It seemed to James that, even whilethe man was unconscious, all his features presented slightly upturnedlines as of bitter derision, intersected with downward lines ofmelancholy. All these lines were very delicate, but they served to giveexpression. He looked like a man who had suffered and made others sufferfor his sufferings, with a cruel enjoyment at the spectacle. It was astrange face, but not an evil one. However, after James had succeeded inforcing a few drops of brandy, which were met with convulsiveswallowing, between the man's teeth, he moved again, and his eyesopened, and immediately the evil shone out of the face like a malignantflame in a lamp. Knowledge of, and delight in, evil gleamed out of thesudden brightness of the man's great eyes. Then the evil seemed to leapto rage, as a spark leaps to flame. He tried to raise himself, andcursed in a choking voice. He seemed awake most fully to consciousness,and to know exactly what had happened. The dog in the office sent fortha perfect volley of barks. The man had been obliged to sink back, buthis right hand fumbled feebly for his pocket.

  "It is not there," Gordon said coolly.

  "Shoot him, you--or--" croaked the man in his voice of unnatural rage.

  "Time enough for that," said Gordon. He spoke coolly, but James saw himshaking as if with the ague. He was deadly white, and his whole facelooked drawn and withered. Aaron came leading the team harnessed to thewagon out of the stable. He had brought down the mattress and blankets,as the doctor had directed, and the three men after the rude bed hadbeen made in the wagon lifted the man thereo
n. He seemed to beconscious, but his muttering was so weak as to be almost inaudible, savefor occasional words.

  After he was in the wagon Gordon, turning to James, said: "You hadbetter go in the house and stay with the women. Aaron will go with me. Ishall take this man to the hotel, to Georgie K.'s."

  A perfect volley of mumbled remonstrances came from the prostrate figurein the wagon. Gordon seemed to understand him. "No, I shall not take youthere," he said, "but to the hotel. You will be better cared for. I knowthe proprietor."

  He got in beside the man, and seated himself on the floor of the wagon.Aaron mounted to the driver's seat.

  "Tell Clemency and her mother not to worry if they are awake," Gordoncalled to James as the horses started.

  James said yes and went into the house. He entered through the officedoor, and directly Clemency was in his arms, all trembling andhalf-weeping. "Oh, what has happened? Has Uncle Tom taken him away?" shequavered.

  "Hush, dear, you will wake your mother. Yes, he has taken him away."

  "What was the matter, tell me."

  "He was unconscious. He had fallen."

  "He came to. I heard him speak. Were any bones broken?"

  "No, I think not. You must go to bed; it it very late, dear."

  Clemency had put fresh wood on the hearth, and the little place was alla-waver and a-flicker with firelight. Grotesque shadows danced over thewalls and ceiling, and sprawled uncertainly on the floor. Clemencylooked up in James's face, and her own had a shocked whiteness andhorror, in spite of the tenderness in his. "Tell--" she began.

  "What, dear?"

  "Was it--that man?"

  James hesitated.

  "Tell me," Clemency said imperiously.

  "Yes, I think it was."

  Clemency glanced as if instinctively at the dog, lying asleep in a whitecoil on the hearth. "What was the matter with him?" she asked in ahardly audible voice.

  "He had fallen, dear, and was unconscious."

  "Nothing--" Clemency glanced again at the dog, and did not complete herquestion.

  "He had recovered consciousness," James said hastily.

  "Then he is not going to die." It was impossible to say what kind ofrelief was in the girl's voice, but relief there was.

  "I see no reason why he should. I don't think your uncle thought hewould die."

  "Where have they taken him?"

  "To the hotel. Now, Clemency dear, you must put all this out of yourmind and go to bed."

  Clemency obeyed like a child. She kissed James, took a candle, and wentupstairs.

  James went into his own room, but he did not undress or go to bed.Instead, he sat at the window facing the street and stared into thedarkness, watching for Doctor Gordon's return. He sat there for nearlytwo hours, then he heard wheels, and saw the dark mass of the team andwagon lumber into sight. He ran through the house, and was in the drivewith a lantern when the team entered. "Have you been waiting for us,Elliot?" called Doctor Gordon's tired voice.

  "Yes, I thought I would."

  "I stayed until I was sure he was comfortable," said Gordon. Heclambered over the wheel of the wagon like an old man. When he was inthe office with James, and the lamp was lit, he sank into a chair, andlooked at the younger man with an expression almost of despair.

  "He is not going to die of it?" asked James hesitatingly.

  "No," cried Gordon, "he shall not!" He looked up with sudden, fierceresolution and alertness. "Why should he die?" he demanded. "He is farfrom being old or feeble. His vitals are not touched. Why on earthshould you think he would die?"

  "I see no reason," James replied hastily, "only--"

  "Only what, for God's sake?"

  "I thought you looked discouraged."

  "Well, I am, and tired of the world, but this man is going to live. Seehere, boy, suppose you see if there is any hot water in the kitchen, andwe'll have something to drink, then we will go to bed, and God grant wedon't have a night call."

  After Gordon had drank his face lightened somewhat, still he lookedyears older than he had done at dinner time, with that awful aging ofthe soul, which sometimes comes in an instant. When finally he wentupstairs James noticed how feebly he moved. It was on his tongue's endto offer to assist him, but he did not dare.

  The next morning, before James was up, he heard the rapid trot of ahorse on the drive, and wondered if Doctor Gordon had had a call soearly. When the breakfast-bell rang only Clemency was at the table. Themaid had returned in season to get breakfast, and was waiting with aseverely interrogative face.

  She had noticed blood on the frozen surface of the drive and had stoodsurveying it before she entered. She had asked Clemency if anything hadhappened, and the girl had told her that a man had fallen near theoffice door on the preceding evening and been injured, and Doctor Gordonhad taken him home.

  "What's the man's name?" Emma had inquired sharply.

  "I don't know," said Clemency, and indeed she did not know, but therewas something secretive in her manner. Emma set her mouth hard andtossed her head. Curiosity was almost a lust with her. She was alwaysenraged when it was excited and not gratified.

  When James entered, she glanced severely at him and then at Clemency, asshe passed the muffins. She suspected something between them, and shewas baffled there.

  "Has Doctor Gordon gone out?" James asked.

  "Yes, he went right out as soon as he got up. Just had a cup of coffee;wouldn't wait for breakfast," replied Emma in a nipping tone.

  Neither Clemency nor James made any comment. Both knew where he hadgone, and Emma, seeing that they both knew, grew more hostile thanever. Her manner of serving the beefsteak was fairly warlike.

  After breakfast Aaron told James of some parting instructions whichGordon had left with him. He had the team harnessed, and was to takeJames to visit certain patients.

  James went off on a long drive across the country, calling on his way atthe scattered houses of the patients. He did not return until noon, justbefore the luncheon-bell rang. Entering by the office door he foundGordon sitting before the hearth-fire, smoking, and staring gloomily atthe leaping flames. He looked up when James entered, said good morningin an abstracted fashion, and asked some questions about the patientswhom he had visited. James hesitated about inquiring for the man who hadbeen injured the night before, but finally he did so. The dog had sprungup to greet him, and between his pats on the white head and commands of"Down, sir, down!" he asked as casually as he could if Gordon had seenhis patient who had fallen in the drive the night before, and how hewas. Gordon turned upon James a face of such fierce misery that theyounger man fairly recoiled. "He isn't going to die?" he cried.

  "No, he is not going to die. He shall not die!" Gordon replied withpassionate emphasis. Then he added, in response to James's wondering,half-frightened look, "I have been there all the morning. I have justcome home. I have left everything for him. I don't dare get a nurse. Iam afraid. He may talk a good deal. Georgie K. is with him now. I cantrust him, but I can't trust a nurse. I am going back after luncheon,and you may go with me. I would like you to see him."

  "Does he seem to be very ill?" James asked timidly.

  "Not from the--the--wound," replied Gordon, "but I am afraid ofsomething else."

  "What?"

  "Erysipelas. I am afraid of that setting in. In fact, I am notaltogether sure that it has not. He is an erysipelas subject. He hastold me of two severe attacks which he has had. When he fell he got anabrasion of the cheek. That looks worse than the--the--wound. I shouldlike you to see him. You have seen erysipelas cases, of course, in yourhospital practice."

  "Oh, yes."

  "There is the bell for luncheon. We will go directly afterward."

  James wondered within himself at the feverish haste with which Gordonswallowed his luncheon, frequently looking at his watch. He was actuallyshowing more anxiety over this man who had hounded him, of whom he hadlived in dread, than James had seen him show over any patient since hehad been with him. It seemed to him
inconsistent. Mrs. Ewing did notcome down to luncheon; Clemency said that she was not feeling as well asusual but Gordon did not seem much disturbed even by that. He gaveClemency some powders, with instructions how to administer them to thesick woman before he left, but he did not show concern, and did not goupstairs to see her. Clemency herself looked pale and anxious.

  She found a chance to whisper to James before he went. "Is that man verymuch hurt?" she said close to his ear.

  "Hush, dear. I am afraid so."

  "Uncle Tom seems terribly worried. I have never seen him so worried evenover mother, and he doesn't seem worried about her now. Oh, James, sheis suffering frightfully, I know." Clemency gave a little sob. ThenGordon's voice was heard calling imperiously, "Elliot, come along!"James kissed the poor little face tenderly, and whispered that she mustnot worry, that probably the powders would relieve her mother, and thenthat she herself had better lie down and try to get a little sleep, andhurried out.

  Gordon was seated in the buggy, waiting for him. "I don't want to loseany time," he said brusquely as James got in beside him. "Even a fewminutes sometimes work awful changes in a case like this. If he is noworse I will leave you with him, and make a call on Mrs. Wells. Ihaven't seen her to-day, and yesterday it looked like pneumonia, thenthere is that child with diphtheria at the Atwaters'. I ought to gothere myself, but if he is worse you will have to go, and to a fewothers, and I must stay with him."

  Gordon drove furiously. Heads appeared at windows; people on the streetturned faces of wonder and alarm after him. It was soon noised aboutAlton that there had been a terrible accident, that somebody was at thepoint of death, but of that Gordon and James knew nothing.

  When they arrived at the hotel, Gordon, after he had tied his horse,took his medicine-case, and, followed by James, entered, and wentdirectly upstairs to a large room at the back of the hotel. This roomwas somewhat isolated in position, having a corridor on one side andlinen closets on another, it being a corner apartment with two outerwalls. Gordon opened the door softly and entered with James behind him.The bed stood between the two west windows. It was a northwest room. Theafternoon sun had not yet reached it. It was furnished after the usualfashion of country hotel bedrooms. It was clean and sparse, and thefurniture had the air of having a past, of having witnessed almosteverything which occurs to humanity. It seemed battered and stained,though not with wear, but with humanity. The old-fashioned black walnutbedstead in which the sick man lay seemed to have a thousand voices ofexperiences. A great piece was broken off one corner of the footboard.The wound in the wood looked sinister. Directly opposite the bed stoodthe black walnut bureau, with its swung glass. The glass was crackeddiagonally, and reflected the bed and its occupant with an air ofexperience. Gordon went directly to his patient. Beside him sat GeorgieK. He looked at the two doctors and shook his head gravely. His greatblond face was unshaven and paled with watching. Nobody spoke a word.All three looked at the man in the bed, who lay either asleep, orfeigning sleep, or in a stupor. Gordon felt for his pulse softly, withkeen eyes upon his face. This face was unspeakably ghastly. The throatwas swathed in bandages. There was one tiny spot of red on the white ofthe linen. The man's eyes were rolled upward. Around an abrasion on thecheek, which glistened oily with some unguent which had been applied toit, was a circle of painful red clearly defined from the pallor of therest of the cheek.

  Gordon spoke. "How do you feel?" he asked of the man, who evidentlyheard and understood, but did not reply. He simply made a little motionof facial muscles, of shoulders, of his whole body under thebed-clothes, which indicated rage and impatience.

  "Does that place on your cheek burn?" asked Gordon.

  Again there was no answer, this time not even any motion.

  "Have you any pain?" asked Gordon. The man lay motionless. "Is there anyone in the parlor?" Gordon asked abruptly of Georgie K.

  "No, Doc. You can go right in there."

  Gordon beckoned to James, and the two went downstairs, and entered theroom of the wax flowers and the stuffed canary.

  "It looks like erysipelas," Gordon said with no preface.

  James nodded.

  "All I have done so far, in the absence of any positive proof of thetruth of that diagnosis, is to apply what you will think an old woman'sremedy, but I have known it to give good results in light cases, and Idid not like to resort to the more strenuous methods until I was sure ofmy ground, for fear of complications. I applied a little mutton tallow,and that was all, but the inflammation has increased since I saw him. Itnow looks to me like a clearly defined case of erysipelas."

  "It does to me," said James.

  "So far--the--wound in the throat seems to be doing well," said Gordongloomily. Then he looked at the younger physician with an odd, helplessexpression. "His life must be saved," said he. "Which do you prefer ofthe two methods of treating the disease--that is, of the two primaryones? Of course, there are methods innumerable. I may have grown rustyin my country practice. Do you prefer the leaches, the nitrate ofsilver, the low diet, or the reverse?"

  "I think I prefer the reverse."

  "Well, you may be right," said Gordon, "and yet you have to considerthat this is a man in full vigor," he added, "that presumably he hasconsiderable reserve strength upon which to draw. Still if you preferthe other treatment--"

  "I have seen very good results from it," said James. He was becomingmore and more astonished at the older man's helpless, almost appealing,manner toward himself. "What is the man's name?" he asked.

  "I don't know what name he has given here," Gordon replied evasively. "Iwill tell you later on what his name is."

  Suddenly the parlor door was flung open, and a woman appeared. She wasmiddle-aged, very large, clad in black raiment, which had an effect ofsliding and slipping from her when she moved. She kept clutching at thebuttons of her coat, which did not quite meet over her full front. Shebrought together the ends of a black fur boa, she reached constantly forthe back of her skirts, and gave them a firm tug which relaxed the nextmoment. Her decent black bonnet was askew, her large face was flushed.She had been a strapping, handsome country girl once; now she was almostindecent in her involuntary exuberance of coarse femininity.

  "How do you do, Mrs. Slocum?" Doctor Gordon said politely.

  James rose, Gordon introduced him. Mrs. Slocum did not bow, she jerkedher great chin upward, then she spoke with really alarming ferocity."Where has my boarder went? That's what I want to know. That's what Ihave come here for, not for no bowin's and scrapin's. Where has myboarder went?"

  A keen look came into Gordon's face. "I don't know who your boarder is,Mrs. Slocum," he said.