The doctor read these words aloud, and the cardinal and Father d"Aigrigny looked at each other in admiration of this dauntless courage.
"Reverend father," said Dr. Baleinier, "you must lie down."
Rodin wrote: "Get everything ready. I have still some orders to write.
Let me know when it is time."
Then folding up a paper, which he had sealed with a wafer, Rodin gave these words to Father d"Aigrigny: "Send this note instantly to the agent who addressed the anonymous letters to Marshal Simon."
"Instantly, reverend father," replied the abbe; "I will employ a sure messenger."
"Reverend father," said Baleinier to Rodin, "since you must write, lie down in bed, and write there, during our little preparations."
Rodin made an affirmative gesture, and rose. But already the prognostics of the doctor were realized. The Jesuit could hardly remain standing for a second; he fell back into a chair, and looked at Dr. Baleinier with anguish, whilst his breathing became more and more difficult.
The doctor said to him: "Do not be uneasy. But we must make haste. Lean upon me and Father d"Aigrigny."
Aided by these two supporters, Rodin was able to regain the bed. Once there, he made signs that they should bring him pen, ink, and paper.
Then he continued to write upon his knees, pausing from time to time, to breathe with great difficulty.
"Reverend father," said Baleinier to d"Aigrigny, "are you capable of acting as one of my a.s.sistants in the operation? Have you that sort of courage?"
"No," said the reverend father; "in the army I could never a.s.sist at an amputation. The sight of blood is too much for me."
"There will be no blood," said the doctor, "but it will be worse. Please send me three of our reverend fathers to a.s.sist me, and ask M. Rousselet to bring in the apparatus."
Father d"Aigrigny went out. The prelate approached the doctor, and whispered, pointing to Rodin: "Is he out of danger?"
"If he stands the operation--yes, my lord."
"Are you sure that he can stand it?"
"To him I should say "yes," to you "I hope so.""
"And were he to die, would there be time to administer the sacraments in public, with a certain pomp, which always causes some little delay?"
"His dying may continue, my lord--a quarter of an hour."
"It is short, but we must be satisfied with that," said the prelate.
And, going to one of the windows, he began to tap with his fingers on the gla.s.s, while he thought of the illumination effects, in the event of Rodin"s lying in state. At this moment, Rousselet entered, with a large square box under his arm. He placed it on the drawers, and began to arrange his apparatus.
"How many have you prepared?" said the doctor.
"Six, sir."
"Four will do, but it is well to be fully provided. The cotton is not too thick?"
"Look, sir."
"Very good."
"And how is the reverend father?" asked the pupil.
"Humph!" answered the doctor, in a whisper. "The chest is terribly clogged, the respiration hissing, the voice gone--still there is a change."
"All my fear is, sir, that the reverend father will not be able to stand the dreadful pain."
"It is another chance; but, under the circ.u.mstances, we must risk all.
Come, my dear boy, light the--taper; I hear our a.s.sistants."
Just then Father d"Aigrigny entered the room, accompanied by the three Jesuits, who, in the morning, had walked in the garden. The two old men, with their rosy cheeks, and the young one, with the ascetic countenance, all three dressed in black, with their square caps and white bands, appeared perfectly ready to a.s.sist Dr. Baleinier in his formidable operation.
CHAPTER x.x.x. THE TORTURE.
"Reverend fathers," said Dr. Baleinier, graciously, to the three, "I thank you for your kind aid. What you have to do is very simple, and, by the blessing of heaven, this operation will save the life of our dear Father Rodin."
The three black-gowns cast up their eyes piously, and then bowed altogether, like one man. Rodin, indifferent to what was pa.s.sing around him, never ceased an instant to write or reflect. Nevertheless, in spite of his apparent calmness, he felt such difficulty in breathing, that more than once Dr. Baleinier had turned round uneasily, as he heard the stifled rattling in the throat of the sick man. Making a sign to his pupil, the doctor approached Rodin and said to him: "Come, reverend father; this is the important moment. Courage!"
No sign of alarm was expressed in the Jesuit"s countenance. His features remained impa.s.sible as those of a corpse. Only, his little reptile eyes sparkled still more brightly in their dark cavities. For a moment, he looked round at the spectators of this scene; then, taking his pen between his teeth, he folded and wafered another letter, placed it on the table beside the bed, and nodded to Dr. Baleinier, as if to say: "I am ready."
"You must take off your flannel waistcoat, and your shirt, father."
Rodin hesitated an instant, and the doctor resumed: "It is absolutely necessary, father."
Aided by Baleinier, Rodin obeyed, whilst the doctor added, no doubt to spare his modesty: "We shall only require the chest, right and left, my dear father."
And now, Rodin, stretched upon his back, with his dirty night-cap still on his head, exposed the upper part of a livid trunk, or rather, the bony cage of a skeleton, for the shadows of the ribs and cartilages encircled the skin with deep, black lines. As for the arms, they resembled bones twisted with cord and covered with tanned parchment.
"Come, M. Rousselet, the apparatus!" said Baleinier.
Then addressing the three Jesuits, he added: "Please draw near, gentlemen; what you have to do is very simple, as you will see."
It was indeed very simple. The doctor gave to each of his four a.s.sistants a sort of little steel tripod about two inches in diameter and three in height; the circular centre of this tripod was filled with cotton; the instrument was held in the left hand by means of a wooden handle. In the right hand each a.s.sistant held a small tin tube about eighteen inches long; at one end was a mouthpiece to receive the lips of the operator, and the other spread out so as to form a cover to the little tripod. These preparations had nothing alarming in them. Father d"Aigrigny and the prelate, who looked on from a little distance, could not understand how this operation should be so painful. They soon understood it.
Dr. Baleinier, having thus provided his four a.s.sistants, made them approach Rodin, whose bed had been rolled into the middle of the room.
Two of them were placed on one side, two on the other.
"Now, gentlemen," said Dr. Baleinier, "set light to the cotton; place the lighted part on the skin of his reverence, by means of the tripod which contains the wick; cover the tripod with the broad part of the tube, and then blow through the other end to keep up the fire. It is very simple, as you see."
It was, in fact, full of the most patriarchal and primitive ingenuity.
Four lighted cotton rocks, so disposed as to burn very slowly, were applied to the two sides of Rodin"s chest. This is vulgarly called the moxa. The trick is done, when the whole thickness of the skin has been burnt slowly through. It lasts seven or eight minutes. They say that an amputation is nothing to it. Rodin had watched the preparations with intrepid curiosity. But, at the first touch of the four fires, he writhed like a serpent, without being able to utter a cry. Even the expression of pain was denied him. The four a.s.sistants being disturbed by, the sudden start of Rodin, it was necessary to begin again.
"Courage, my dear father! offer these sufferings to the Lord!" said Dr.
Baleinier, in a sanctified tone. "I told you the operation would be very painful; but then it is salutary in proportion. Come; you that have shown such decisive resolution, do not fail at the last movement!"
Rodin had closed his eyes, conquered by the first agony of pain. He now opened them, and looked at the doctor as if ashamed of such weakness.