CHAPTER XIV
IN DERYCK'S SAFE CONTROL
The white cliffs of Dover gradually became more solid and distinct,
until at length they rose from the sea, a strong white wall, emblem
of the undeniable purity of England, the stainless honour and
integrity of her throne, her church, her parliament, her courts of
justice, and her dealings at home and abroad, whether with friend or
foe. "Strength and whiteness," thought Jane as she paced the
steamer's deck; and after a two years' absence her heart went out to
her native land. Then Dover Castle caught her eye, so beautiful in
the pearly light of that spring afternoon. Her mind leaped to
enjoyment, then fell back stunned by the blow of quick remembrance,
and Jane shut her eyes.
All beautiful sights brought this pang to her heart since the
reading of that paragraph on the piazza of the Mena House Hotel.
An hour after she had read it, she was driving down the long
straight road to Cairo; embarked at Alexandria the next day; landed
at Brindisi, and this night and day travelling had brought her at
last within sight of the shores of England. In a few minutes she
would set foot upon them, and then there would be but two more
stages to her journey. For, from the moment she started, Jane never
doubted her ultimate destination,--the room where pain and darkness
and despair must be waging so terrible a conflict against the moral
courage, the mental sanity, and the instinctive hold on life of the
man she loved.
That she was going to him, Jane knew; but she felt utterly unable to
arrange how or in what way her going could be managed. That it was a
complicated problem, her common sense told her; though her yearning
arms and aching bosom cried out: "O God, is it not simple? Blind and
alone! MY Garth!"
But she knew an unbiased judgment, steadier than her own, must solve
the problem; and that her surest way to Garth lay through the
doctor's consulting-room. So she telegraphed to Deryck from Paris,
and at present her mind saw no further than Wimpole Street.
At Dover she bought a paper, and hastily scanned its pages as she
walked along the platform in the wake of the capable porter who had
taken possession of her rugs and hand baggage. In the personal
column she found the very paragraph she sought.
"We regret to announce that Mr. Garth Dalmain still lies in a most
precarious condition at his house on Deeside, Aberdeenshire, as a
result of the shooting accident a fortnight ago. His sight is
hopelessly gone, but the injured parts were progressing favourably,
and all fear of brain complications seemed over. During the last few
days, however, a serious reaction from shock has set in, and it has
been considered necessary to summon Sir Deryck Brand, the well-known
nerve specialist, in consultation with the oculist and the local
practitioner in charge of the case. There is a feeling of wide-
spread regret and sympathy in those social and artistic circles
where Mr. Dalmain was so well-known and so deservedly popular."
"Oh, thank you, m'lady," said the efficient porter when he had
ascertained, by a rapid glance into his palm, that Jane's half-crown
was not a penny. He had a sick young wife at home, who had been
ordered extra nourishment, and just as the rush on board began, he
had put up a simple prayer to the Heavenly Father "who knoweth that
ye have need of these things," asking that he might catch the eye of
a generous traveller. He felt he had indeed been "led" to this
plain, brown-faced, broad-shouldered lady, when he remembered how
nearly, after her curt nod from a distance had engaged him, he had
responded to the blandishments of a fussy little woman, with many
more bags and rugs, and a parrot cage, who was now doling French
coppers out of the window of the next compartment. "Seven pence
'apenny of this stuff ain't much for carrying all that along, I
DON'T think!" grumbled his mate; and Jane's young porter experienced
the double joy of faith confirmed, and willing service generously
rewarded.
A telegraph boy walked along the train, saying: "Honrubble Jain
Champyun" at intervals. Jane heard her name, and her arm shot out of
the window.
"Here, my boy! It is for me."
She tore it open. It was from the doctor.
"Welcome home. Just back from Scotland. Will meet you Charing Cross,
and give you all the time you want. Have coffee at Dover. DERYCK."
Jane gave one hard, tearless sob of thankfulness and relief. She had
been so lonely.
Then she turned to the window. "Here, somebody! Fetch me a cup of
coffee, will you?"
Coffee was the last thing she wanted; but it never occurred to any
one to disobey the doctor, even at a distance.
The young porter, who still stood sentry at the door of Jane's
compartment, dashed off to the refreshment room; and, just as the
train began to move, handed a cup of steaming coffee and a plate of
bread-and-butter in at the window.
"Oh, thank you, my good fellow," said Jane, putting the plate on the
seat, while she dived into her pocket. "Here! you have done very
well for me. No, never mind the change. Coffee at a moment's notice
should fetch a fancy price. Good-bye."
The train moved on, and the porter stood looking after it with tears
in his eyes. Over the first half-crown he had said to himself: "Milk
and new-laid eggs." Now, as he pocketed the second, he added the
other two things mentioned by the parish doctor: "Soup and jelly";
and his heart glowed. "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
need of these things."
And Jane, seated in a comfortable corner, choked back the tears of
relief which threatened to fall, drank her coffee, and was thereby
more revived than she could have thought possible. She, also, had
need of many things. Not of half-crowns; of those she had plenty.
But above all else she needed just now a wise, strong, helpful
friend, and Deryck had not failed her.
She read his telegram through once more, and smiled. How like him to
think of the coffee; and oh, how like him to be coming to the
station.
She took off her hat and leaned back against the cushions. She had
been travelling night and day, in one feverish whirl of haste, and
at last she had brought herself within reach of Deryck's hand and
Deryck's safe control. The turmoil of her soul was stilled; a great
calm took its place, and Jane dropped quietly off to sleep. "Your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things."
* * * * * * *
Washed and brushed and greatly refreshed, Jane stood at the window
of her compartment as the train steamed into Charing Cross.
The doctor was stationed exactly opposite the door when her carriage
came to a standstill; mere chance, and yet, to Jane, it seemed so
like him to have taken up his position precisely at the right spot
on that long platform. An enthusiastic lady patient had once said of
Deryck Brand, with more accuracy of definition than of grammar: "You
know, he is always so very JUST THERE." And this characteristic of
the doctor had made him to many a very present help in time of
trouble.
He was through the line of porters and had his hand upon the handle
of Jane's door in a moment. Standing at the window, she took one
look at the firm lean face, now alight with welcome, and read in the
kind, steadfast eyes of her childhood's friend a perfect sympathy
and comprehension. Then she saw behind him her aunt's footman, and
her own maid, who had been given a place in the duchess's household.
In another moment she was on the platform and her hand was in
Deryck's.
"That is right, dear," he said. "All fit and well, I can see. Now
hand over your keys. I suppose you have nothing contraband? I
telephoned the duchess to send some of her people to meet your
luggage, and not to expect you herself until dinner time, as you
were taking tea with us. Was that right? This way. Come outside the
barrier. What a rabble! All wanting to break every possible rule and
regulation, and each trying to be the first person in the front row.
Really the patience and good temper of railway officials should
teach the rest of mankind a lesson."
The doctor, talking all the time, piloted Jane through the crowd;
opened the door of a neat electric brougham, helped her in, took his
seat beside her, and they glided swiftly out into the Strand, and
turned towards Trafalgar Square.
"Well," said the doctor, "Niagara is a big thing isn't it? When
people say to me, 'Were you not disappointed in Niagara? WE were!' I
feel tempted to wish, for one homicidal moment, that the earth would
open her mouth and swallow them up. People who can be disappointed
in Niagara, and talk about it, should no longer be allowed to crawl
on the face of the earth. And how about the 'Little Mother'? Isn't
she worth knowing? I hope she sent me her love. And New York
harbour! Did you ever see anything to equal it, as you steam away in
the sunset?"
Jane gave a sudden sob; then turned to him, dry-eyed.
"Is there no hope, Deryck?"
The doctor laid his hand on hers. "He will always be blind, dear.
But life holds other things beside sight. We must never say: 'No
hope.'"
"Will he live?"
"There is no reason he should not live. But how far life will be
worth living, largely depends upon what can be done for him, poor
chap, during the next few months. He is more shattered mentally than
physically."
Jane pulled off her gloves, swallowed suddenly, then gripped the
doctor's knee. "Deryck--I love him."
The doctor remained silent for a few moments, as if pondering this
tremendous fact. Then he lifted the fine, capable hand resting upon
his knee and kissed it with a beautiful reverence,--a gesture
expressing the homage of the man to the brave truthfulness of the
woman.
"In that case, dear," he said, "the future holds in store so great a
good for Garth Dalmain that I think he may dispense with sight.--
Meanwhile you have much to say to me, and it is, of course, your
right to hear every detail of his case that I can give. And here we
are at Wimpole Street. Now come into my consulting-room. Stoddart
has orders that we are on no account to be disturbed."
