He hardly knew why he was so angry with the man who called himself his
friend. Keyork had behaved no worse than an ordinary doctor, for he had
stayed until the danger was over and had promised to come again in the
morning. It was his cool way of disclaiming all further responsibility
and of avoiding all further trouble which elicited the Wanderer’s
resentment, as well as the unpleasant position in which the latter found
himself.
He had certainly not anticipated being left in charge of a sick man--and
that sick man Israel Kafka--in Unorna’s house for the whole night, and
he did not enjoy the prospect. The mere detail of having to give some
explanation to the servants, who would doubtless come before long to
extinguish the lights, was far from pleasant. Moreover, though Keyork
had declared the patient out of danger, there seemed no absolute
certainty that a relapse would not take place before morning, and Kafka
might actually lay in the certainty--delusive enough--that Unorna could
not return until the following day.
He did not dare to take upon himself the responsibility of calling some
one to help him and of removing the Moravian in his present condition.
The man was still very weak and either altogether unconscious, or
sleeping the sleep of exhaustion. The weather, too, was bitterly cold,
and the exposure to the night air might bring on immediate and fatal
consequences. He examined Kafka closely and came to the conclusion that
he was really asleep. To wake him would be absolutely cruel as well as
dangerous. He looked kindly at the weary face and then began to walk
up and down between the plants, coming back at the end of every turn to
look again and assure himself that no change had taken place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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