The patient still lay insensible, entirely unconscious of what had
happened to him, with that utterly mournful and pathetic look which a
face that is unconscious takes. He had concussion of the brain, as well
as external injuries of a serious description, but it was as yet
impossible to pronounce whether he would die, or if he might yet
recover. Two of the servants were up in case anything might be wanted
during the night, a quite unnecessary precaution--one of the results of
the great and unusual excitement which had convulsed the house--but
except these women, who appeared now and then at the end of the passage
which led to the kitchen, very sleepy and with an air of conscious
self-sacrifice on their faces, no one else was suffered to be about.
Janet had asked to stay to be of use, but had been dismissed by Miss
Harwood--not unkindly.
“It’s not that I am not grateful, Janet. You stood by me this evening in
a way which I shall not forget; but you’re too young,” said Gussy, with
a sigh, “to sit up, unless it was a case in which your heart was
concerned.”
This speech of his sister’s for the first time roused Dolff a little. He
had been sitting all the evening with a stupefied air, saying nothing,
calling forth much sympathy and admiration from his mother, who
whispered to Janet how tender-hearted he was, how much he felt it. But
Gussy’s words roused him. He glanced at Janet, as Janet had glanced at
him with the same impulse, to say, “She’s the cause of it all,” as she
had felt to say, “That is the man.”
Their eyes met, and they both read what was in the other’s looks; a
certain fear, yet defiance, awoke between them. They were in each
other’s power. Janet had Dolff’s life in her hands, and he had her
reputation in his. They were both liable to all the risks of a sudden
impulse, to let the truth slip in a moment of provocation.
Janet watched the hardening and darkening of the face which had once
expressed only devotion and admiration, with a sinking of her heart. He
was more dangerous to her than she was to him. It was evident that to
see his sister’s trust in her was more than he could bear. After this,
however, they withdrew into their rooms with their different burdens.
Dolff sat smoking and dozing in his, not knowing what he was to do, or
how to meet the morrow. He was still stupid with misery, unable to use
his faculties, or to think for himself, as, poor fellow, he was but
little used to do at any time. He could not think, but only sit
miserable, feeling the night to be a century long, yet without any
desire for the morning. As for sleep, it was impossible, and yet, though
it was so impossible, he slept the greater part of the night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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