The curtains moved in the breeze; and the nurse rose now and then as the
night wore on and went to the bed and waited a minute and returned to
her chair. Then some movement in the room--something unseen, drew her
and she went again to the bed. She moved the light so that it fell,
half-shaded, on the pillow, and bent forward and looked. Her hand sought
the wrist under the blanket and held it a minute and she lifted her face
and turned the light quickly away.
She was moving toward the door--but it had swung softly back into the
shadowy room, and Aunt Jane was nodding to her and smiling--with a
subdued half-gesture toward the bed.
"I'll take him now," she said in her low voice.
"Shall I call Dr. Carmon?"
"Not yet." She went on toward the bed and the nurse passed out.
In the dimness of the room, nothing had happened. The curtains swayed a
little in the breeze--the motionless figure on the bed lay rigid as
before under its blanket--and the shadows crept toward it and back. But
in the turning of a minute, forces had ranged themselves in the quiet
room.
Aunt Jane turned off the light and pushed back the curtains from the
window and brought a chair to the side of the bed, and sat down quietly
with the forces. She had moved with the certainty of one who sees what
is to be done. She knew that presently there would steal out from the
shadows something that has neither name nor shape.
She slipped her hand along inside the blanket and found the lifeless one
and rubbed it a little and touched the wrist with firm, quick fingers
and clasped the hand close.
Then she sat with her head bent, as motionless as the figure beside her.
The moments came and went. Outside, the clock-tower boomed the hour
softly, and then the half-hour; and somewhere in the distance a rooster
crowed--a shrill, clear call, like light.... Something ran through the
figure on the bed--the man stirred a little. Half-way through the
lifeless fingers something crept toward warmth, and lay chill--and went
slowly back and came again--and Aunt Jane's hand closed on it, clean and
soft.... The man stirred and opened his eyes and stared vaguely out.
The shadows in the room were clear gray--the east light had touched
them. The eyes looked out on the light, unseeing, and fell shut. A half
sigh fluttered to the parched lips and escaped and the man turned his
head. Aunt Jane bent forward, waiting. The eyes opened and saw her and
closed, and an even breath came through the lips. Then a deep groan
broke from them and Aunt Jane smiled.... It was a quiet, brooding smile
like the light of the morning that was flooding in through the room....
The man groaned again.
Aunt Jane nodded happily and got up. She opened the windows wide and let
in the freshness and stood for a moment breathing it in. Then she went
back to the bed.
The man's eyes regarded her dully.
"You feeling all right now?" she said cheerfully, bending over him.
He turned his head with a groan and Aunt Jane touched the bell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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