The House Opposite Part 23

When he had done this, I could not refrain from asking whether Norman was still there.

"Certainly! And seems likely to remain indefinitely."

"Really?"

"Yes! I forgot to tell you that May begged to be allowed to see him yesterday. As she was able to get up, and lie on the sofa, I consented, for I feared a refusal would agitate her too much. I only stipulated that he should not remain with her over half an hour. What occurred during this meeting, of course, I don't know. But May experienced no bad effects. On the contrary, her mother writes that she has seemed calmer and more cheerful ever since."

"They are probably engaged. Don't you think so?" And as I put the question, I knew that if the answer were affirmative my chance of happiness was gone for ever.

"I don't believe it," he answered, "for after his interview with May, Norman spent the rest of the day sunk in the deepest gloom. He ate scarcely anything, and when forced to remain in the house (feeling, I suppose, that politeness demanded that he should give us at any rate a little of his society) he moved restlessly from one seat to another.

Several times he tried to pull himself together and to join in the conversation, but it was no use; notwithstanding all his efforts he would soon relapse into his former state of feverish unrest. Now, that doesn't look like the behaviour of a happy lover, does it?

"Since he has been here he has spent most of his time prowling about the Derwents' house, and as Alice was leaving their place yesterday evening she caught a glimpse of him hiding behind a clump of bushes just outside their gate. At least, she is almost sure that it was he, but was so afraid it would embarra.s.s him to be caught playing sentinel that, after a cursory glance in his direction, she pa.s.sed discreetly by.

Afterwards it occurred to her that she should have made certain of his ident.i.ty, for the man she saw may have been some questionable character.

We are not sure that May's extreme nervousness is not due to the fact that she is being persecuted by some unscrupulous person, her brother, for instance. You know I have always believed that he was in some way connected with her illness."

"I know you have."

"But to return to Norman," continued Fred. "I not only suspect him of haunting her door by day, but of spending a good part of the night there. At any rate, I used to hear him creeping in and out of the house at all sorts of unusual hours. The first night I took him for a burglar, and showed what I consider true courage by starting out after him with an empty pistol and--a crutch!"

"I don't think that anything you have told me, however, is at all incompatible with his being Miss Derwent's accepted suitor. His distress is probably due to anxiety about her health." I said this, hoping he would contradict me.

Whether he would have done so or not I shall never know, for at that point our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of his sister; and as it had been previously arranged that she was to drive me over to the Derwents, we started off at once.

At last I was to see my lady again! It seemed too good to be true.

Having given our names to the butler, we were ushered into a large drawing-room, redolent with flowers. So this was May's home.

I glanced eagerly about. These chairs had held her slight form; at that desk she had written, and these rugs had felt the impress of her little feet. A book lay near me on a small table. I pa.s.sed my fingers lovingly over it. This contact with an object she must often have touched gave me an extraordinary pleasure,--a pleasure so great as to make me forget everything else,--and I started guiltily, and tried to lay the book down un.o.bserved, when a tall, grey-haired lady stepped from the veranda into the room.

Mrs. Derwent greeted Miss Cowper affectionately, and welcomed me with quiet grace.

"Fred has told me so much about you, Dr. Fortescue, that I am very glad to meet you at last."

Then, turning to Alice Cowper, she said: "May wants very much to see you. She is lying in a hammock on the piazza, where it is much cooler than here. Dr. Fortescue and I will join you girls later."

"You have been told of my daughter's condition?" she inquired, as soon as we were alone.

"Yes. I hear, however, that there has been a marked improvement since Sunday."

"There was a great improvement. She seemed much less nervous yesterday, but to-day she has had another of her attacks."

"I am sorry to hear that. Do you know what brought this one on?"

"Yes. It was reading in the paper of the Frenchman's a.s.sault on you!"

"But I don't understand why that should have affected her."

"You will forgive my saying so, Doctor--neither do I, although I am extremely glad that you escaped from that madman unhurt."

She looked at me for a moment in silence, then said: "When Fred advised me to consult you about my daughter's health, I knew immediately that I had heard your name before, but could not remember in what connection I had heard it mentioned. In fact, it was not until I read in the _Bugle_ that the man who was supposed to have committed the Rosemere murder had, last night, attempted to kill you that I realized that you were the young doctor whom my daughter had told me about. You were present when she was made to give an account of herself to the coroner, were you not?"

"Yes, but I trust that my slight a.s.sociation with that affair will make no difference."

She again interrupted me: "It makes the greatest difference, I a.s.sure you. As you are aware of the exact nature of the shock she has sustained, I am spared the painful necessity of informing a stranger of her escapade. We are naturally anxious that the fact of her having been in the building at the time of the murder should be known to as few people as possible. I am, therefore, very grateful to you for not mentioning the matter, even to Fred. Although I have been obliged to confide in him myself, I think that your not having done so indicates rare discretion on your part."

I bowed.

"You may rely on me," I said. "I have the greatest respect and admiration for Miss Derwent, and would be most unwilling to say anything which might lay her open to misconstruction."

"Thank you. Now, Doctor, you know exactly what occurred. You are consequently better able than any one else to judge whether what she has been through is in itself enough to account for her present illness."

"She is still very nervous?"

"Incredibly so. She cannot bear to be left alone a minute."

"And you know of no reason for this nervousness other than her experience at the Rosemere?"

"None."

"May I ask how the news of the butler's attack on me affected her?" How sweet to think that she had cared at all!

"Very strangely," replied Mrs. Derwent. "After reading the account of it she fainted, and it was quite an hour before she recovered consciousness. Since then she has expressed the greatest desire to go to New York, but will give no reason for this absurd whim. Mr. Norman was also much upset by the thought of the danger you had incurred."

"Mr. Norman! But I don't know him!"

"So he told me. To be able to feel so keenly for a stranger shows an extraordinary sensibility, does it not?"

She looked at me keenly.

"It does, indeed! It is most inexplicable!"

"I don't know whether Fred has told you that since my daughter was taken ill on Sunday she cannot bear to have Mr. Norman out of her sight. He has been here all day, and now she insists on his leaving the Cowpers and staying with us altogether. Her behaviour is incomprehensible."

This was pleasant news for me!

"Surely this desire for his society can mean but one thing?"

"Of course, you think that she must care for him, but I am quite sure that she does not."

"Really?" I could hardly keep the note of pleasure out of my voice.

"If she were in love with him I should consider her conduct quite normal. But it is the fact of her indifference that makes it so very curious."

"You are sure this indifference is real and not a.s.sumed?"

"Quite sure," replied Mrs. Derwent. "She tries to hide it, but I can see that his attentions are most unwelcome to her. If he happens, in handing her something, to touch her accidentally, she visibly shrinks from him.

Oh, Mr. Norman has noticed this as well as I have, and it hurts him."