Shrinking behind these curtains, which were drawn back at the head in gorgeous ma.s.ses, Lady Rose looked timidly upon the form that lay prostrate there, afraid of the death signs which might be written upon it.
Walton Hurst was deadly pale yet; but the locked features had relaxed a little, the limbs were outlined less rigidly under the snow-white counterpane than they had been upon the forest path. There was a faint stir of breath about the chest also; but for this the intense stillness in which he lay would have been horrible.
As she gazed, holding her own breath that she might listen for his, her hand was touched softly by lips that seemed to be whispering a prayer or blessing, and Mrs. Hipple stole from the room.
Lady Rose was alone with the man she loved better than anything on earth, and the solitude made her tremble, as if she were committing a crime. She dared not move, or scarcely breathe. What if he were to open his eyes and discover her! Then she could only wish to die of the shame she had brought upon herself.
Still the girl was fascinated. The way of retreat was before her, but she would not take it. Perhaps this was the only time she might hope to see him upon earth. Was she to cast this precious opportunity away?
He stirred a little. It was nothing but a faint shiver of the limbs; but that was enough to startle her. Then a shadow seemed to flit across his features. His eyes opened, and were fixed upon her with a blank, unquestioning look.
Lady Rose could not help the words that sprang to her lips.
"Are you better? Ah, tell me that you are better."
A faint gleam of intelligence came into the eyes she no longer sought to evade, and the lips moved a little, as if something heavier than a breath were disturbing them.
"Can you speak? Do you know me?"
Some unintelligible words were broken on the invalid"s lips.
"Do you want anything?"
"No. I--I--"
Here the man"s feeble speech broke off, and his head moved restlessly on the pillow. Lady Rose leaned over him. Her soul was craving one word of recognition.
"Try and say if you know me," she whispered, too eager for any thought of the fear that had possessed her.
"Oh, yes, I know. Only the name. I never mention that--never!"
"But why? Is it hateful to you?"
"Hateful! No, no! Don"t you know that?"
Rose could not resist the temptation, but touched his forehead with her hand. A ghostly little smile crept over his mouth, which was half-concealed by a wave of the silken beard that had drifted across it. She longed to know if it was a smile or a tremor of light from the shaded lamp, and softly smoothed the beard away. As she did so, a faint kiss was left upon her hand. She drew it back with a sob of delight so exquisite that it made her feel faint.
"He knows me. With his poor, feeble breath he has kissed my hand."
This thought was like rare old wine to the girl; she felt its glow in every pulse of her being. With that precious kiss on her palm, she drew back among the curtains, and gathered it into her heart, pressing her lips where his had been, as children hide away to eat their stolen fruit.
Then she grew ashamed of her own happiness, and came into sight again.
Hurst was apparently asleep then. His eyes were closed; but low murmurs broke from him, now and then, as if he were toiling through some dream. The girl bent her head to listen. The hunger of a loving heart made her insatiable.
"Here--here with me! Then all is well! Dreams haunt one: but what are dreams? Her hand was on my mouth. I felt her breath. No harm has come to her. Yet, and yet--dreams all!"
Here the young man fell into deeper unconsciousness, and his murmurs ceased almost entirely.
Some minutes pa.s.sed, and then the door was swiftly opened, and Mrs.
Hipple glided through.
"My lady! my lady! They are here, mounting the terrace."
Lady Rose heard the loud whisper, and fled from the room.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A FATHER"S MISGIVING.
A figure crouched low in the darkness of that narrow pa.s.sage, listening at the door, and shrinking with shudders when a groan broke through the ill-fitted panels. There was some confusion in the room beyond, voices, and guarded footsteps, quick orders given, then dull, dead silence, and a sharp scream of agony.
"That was his cry! They are killing him! they are killing him!" cried that poor girl, springing to her feet.
Ruth opened the door in rash haste, and her pale face looked in.
"Back! Go back, child!"
It was the impatient voice and white hand of the surgeon that warned Ruth Jessup back; and she shrunk into the darkness again, appalled by what she had seen--her father"s gray hair, scattered on the pillow, his face writhing, and his eyes hot and wild with anguish.
It was a terrible picture, but while it wrung her heart, there was hope in the agony it brought. Anything was better than the deathly stillness that had terrified her under the cedars. It was something that her father could feel pain.
"Now," said the kind surgeon, looking through the door, "you can come in. The bullet is extracted."
In his white palm lay a bit of bent lead, which he looked upon lovingly, for it was a proof of his own professional skill; but Ruth turned from it with a shiver, and creeping up to her father"s bed, knelt down by it, holding back her tears, and burying her face in the bed-clothes, afraid to meet the wild eyes turned upon her.
The wounded man moved his hand a little toward her. She took it in her own timid clasp, and laid her wet cheek upon it in penitent humility.
"Oh, father!"
The hard fingers stirred in her grasp.
"Did it hurt you so? Has it almost killed you?"
The old man turned a little and bent his eyes upon her.
"It isn"t _that_ hurt," he struggled to say. "Not that."
Ruth began to tremble. She understood him.
"Oh, father!" she faltered, "who did it? How could you have been hurt?"
A stern glance shot from the sick man"s eye.
"You! oh, you!"
"Oh, father! I did not know. How could I?"