CHAPTER XXIII
AT ELSIE'S BEDSIDE
The day before election, a day of hope deferred, had dragged slowly byand night had at length settled upon the city. Doctor West had theminute before come in from a long, dinnerless day of hastening fromcase to case, and now he, Katherine, and her aunt were sitting aboutthe supper table. To Katherine's eye her father looked very weary andwhite and frail. The day-and-night struggle at scores of bedsides wassorely wearing him down.
As for Katherine, she was hardly less worn. She scarcely touched thefood before her. The fears that always assail one at a crisis, nowswarmed in upon her. With the election but a few hours distant, withno word as yet from Mr. Manning, she saw all her high plans coming tonaught and saw herself overwhelmed with utter defeat. From withoutthere dimly sounded the beginning of the ferment of the campaign'sfinal evening; it brought to her more keenly that to-morrow the citywas going to give itself over unanimously to be despoiled. Across thetable, her father, pale and worried, was a reminder that, when hisfight of the plague was completed, he must return to jail. Her mindflashed now and then to Bruce; she saw him in prison; she saw not onlyhis certain defeat on the morrow, but she saw him crushed and ruinedfor life as far as a career in Westville was concerned; and though shebravely tried to master her feeling, the throbbing anguish with whichshe looked upon his fate was affirmation of how poignant anddeep-rooted was her love.
And yet, despite these flooding fears, she clung with a dizzydesperation to hope, and to the determination to fight on to the lastsecond of the last minute.
While swinging thus between despair and desperate hope, she wasmaintaining, at first somewhat mechanically to be sure, a conversationwith her father, whom she had not seen since their early breakfasttogether.
"How does the fever situation seem to-night?" she asked.
"Much better," said Doctor West. "There were fewer new cases reportedto-day than any day for a week."
"Then you are getting the epidemic under control?"
"I think we can at last say we have it thoroughly in hand. The numberof new cases is daily decreasing, and the old cases are doing well. Idon't know of an epidemic of this size on record where the mortalityhas been so small."
She came out of her preoccupation and breathlessly demanded:
"Tell me, how is Elsie Sherman? I could not get around to see herto-day."
He dropped his eyes to his plate and did not answer.
"You mean she is no better?"
"She is very low."
"But she still has a chance?"
"Yes, she has a chance. But that's about all. The fever is at itsclimax. I think to-night will decide which it's to be."
"You are going to her again to-night?"
"Right after supper."
"Then I'll go with you," said Katherine. "Poor Elsie! Poor Elsie!" shemurmured to herself. Then she asked, "Have they had any word fromDoctor Sherman?"
"I asked his sister this afternoon. She said they had not."
They fell silent for a moment or two. Doctor West nibbled at his hamwith a troubled air.
"There is one feature of the case I cannot approve of," he at lengthremarked "Of course the Shermans are poor, but I do not think MissSherman should have impaired Elsie's chances, such as they are, frommotives of economy."
"Impaired Elsie's chances?" queried Katherine.
"And certainly she should not have done so without consulting me,"continued Doctor West.
"Done what?"
"Oh, I forgot I had not had a chance to tell you. When I made my firstcall this morning I learned that Miss Sherman had discharged thenurse."
"Discharged the nurse?"
"Yes. During the night."
"But what for?"
"Miss Sherman said they could not afford to keep her."
"But with Elsie so dangerously sick, this is no time to economize!"
"Exactly what I told her. And I said there were plenty of friends whowould have been happy to supply the necessary money."
"And what did she say?"
"Very little. She's a silent, determined woman, you know. She saidthat even at such a time they could not accept charity."
"But did you not insist upon her getting another nurse?"
"Yes. But she refused to have one."
"Then who is looking after Elsie?"
"Miss Sherman."
"Alone?"
"Yes, alone. She has even discharged old Mrs. Murphy, who came in fora few hours a day to clean up."
"It seems almost incomprehensible!" ejaculated Katherine. "Think ofrunning such a risk for the sake of a few dollars!"
"After all, Miss Sherman isn't such a bad nurse," Doctor West's senseof justice prompted him to admit. "In fact, she is really doing verywell."
"All the same, it seems incomprehensible!" persisted Katherine. "Foreconomy's sake----"
She broke off and was silent a moment. Then suddenly she leaned acrossthe table.
"You are sure she gave no other reason?"
"None."
"And you believe her?"
"Why, you don't think she would lie to me, do you?" exclaimed DoctorWest.
"I don't say that," Katherine returned rapidly. "But she's shrewd andclose-mouthed. She might not have told you the whole truth."
"But what could have been her real reason then?"
"Something besides the reason she gave. That's plain."
"But what is it? Why, Katherine," her father burst out, half risingfrom his chair, "what's the matter with you?"
Her eyes were glowing with excitement. "Wait! Wait!" she said quickly,lifting a hand.
She gazed down upon the table, her brow puckered with intense thought.Her father and her aunt stared at her in gathering amazement, andwaited breathlessly till she should speak.
After a minute she glanced up at her father. The strange look in herface had grown more strange.
"You saw no one else there besides Miss Sherman?" she asked quickly.
"No."
"Nor signs of any one?"
"No," repeated the bewildered old man. "What are you thinking of,Katherine?"
"I don't dare say it--I hardly dare think it!"
She pushed back her chair and arose. She was quivering all over, butshe strove to command her agitation.
"As soon as you're through supper, father, I'll be ready to go toElsie."
"I'm through now."
"Come on, then. Let's not lose a minute!"
They hurried out and entered the carriage which, at the city'scharge, stood always waiting Doctor West's requirements. "To Mrs.Sherman's--quick!" Katherine ordered the driver, and the horseclattered away through the crisp November night.
Already people were streaming toward the centre of the town to sharein the excitement of the campaign's closing night. As the carriagepassed the Square, Katherine saw, built against the Court House andbrilliantly festooned with vari-coloured electric bulbs, the speakers'stand from which Blake and others of his party were later to addressthe final mass-meeting of the campaign.
The carriage turned past the jail into Wabash Avenue, and a minuteafterward drew up beside the Sherman cottage. Pulsing with the doublesuspense of her conjecture and of her concern for Elsie's life,Katherine followed her father into the sick chamber. As they enteredthe hushed room the spare figure of Miss Sherman rose from a rockerbeside the bed, greeted them with a silent nod, and drew back to giveplace to Doctor West.
Katherine moved slowly to the foot of the bed and gazed down. For aspace, one cause of her suspense was swept out of her being, and allher concern was for the flickering life before her. Elsie lay witheyes closed, and breathing so faintly that she seemed scarcely tobreathe at all. So pale, so wasted, so almost wraithlike was she as tosuggest that when her spirit fled, if flee it must, nothing could beleft remaining between the sheets.
As she gazed down upon her friend, hovering uncertainly upon life'sthreshold, a tingling chill pervaded Katherine's body. Since hermother's loss in unremembering
childhood, Death had been kind to her;no one so dear had been thus carried up to the very brink of thegrave. All that had been sweet and strong in her friendship with Elsienow flooded in upon her in a mighty wave of undefined emotion. She wasimmediately conscious only of the wasted figure before her, and itsperil, but back of consciousness were unformed memories of theirgirlhood together, of the inseparable intimacy of their youngwomanhood, and of that shy and tender time when she had been theconfidante of Elsie's courtship.
There was a choking at her throat, tears slipped down her cheeks, andthere surged up a wild, wild wish, a rebellious demand, that Elsiemight come safely through her danger.
But, presently, her mind reverted to the special purpose that hadbrought her hither. She studied the face of Miss Sherman, seekingconfirmation of the conjecture that had so aroused her--studying alsofor some method of approaching Miss Sherman, of breaking down herguard, and gaining the information she desired. But she learnednothing from the expression of those spare, self-contained features;and she realized that the lips of the Sphinx would be easier to unlockthan those of this loyal sister of a fugitive brother.
That her conjecture was correct, she became every instant moreconvinced. She sensed it in the stilled atmosphere of the house; shesensed it in the glances of cold and watchful hostility Miss Shermannow and then stole at her. She was wondering what should be her nextstep, when Doctor West, who had felt Elsie's pulse and examined thetemperature chart, drew Miss Sherman back to near where Katherinestood.
"Still nothing from Doctor Sherman?" he whispered in grave anxiety.
"Nothing," said Miss Sherman, looking straight into her questioner'seyes.
"Too bad, too bad!" sighed Doctor West. "He ought to be home!"
Miss Sherman let the first trace of feeling escape from her compressedbeing.
"But still there is a chance?" she asked quickly.
"A fighting chance. I think we shall know which it's to be within anhour."
At these words Katherine heard from behind her ever so faint a sound,a sound that sent a thrill through all her nerves. A sound like astifled groan. For a minute or more she did not move. But when DoctorWest and Miss Sherman had gone back to their places and Doctor Westhad begun the final fight for Elsie's life, she slowly turned about.Before her was a door. Her heart gave a leap. When she had entered shehad searched the room with a quick glance, and that door had then beenclosed. It now stood slightly ajar.
Some one within must have noiselessly opened it to hear Doctor West'sdecree upon the patient.
Swiftly and silently Katherine slipped through the door and locked itbehind her. For a moment she stood in the darkness, striving to masterher throbbing excitement.
At length she spoke.
"Will you please turn on the light, Doctor Sherman," she said.
There was no answer; only a black and breathless silence.
"Please turn on the light, Doctor Sherman," Katherine repeated. "Icannot, for I do not know where the electric button is."
Again there was silence. Then Katherine heard something like a gasp.There was a click, and then the room, Doctor Sherman's study, burstsuddenly into light.
Behind the desk, one hand still upon the electric key, stood DoctorSherman. He was very thin and very white, and was worn, wild-eyed anddishevelled. He was breathing heavily and he stared at Katherine withthe defiance of a desperate creature brought at last to bay.
"What do you want?" he demanded huskily.
"A little talk with you," replied Katherine, trying to speak calmly.
"You must excuse me. With Elsie so sick, I cannot talk."
She stood very straight before him. Her eyes never left his face.
"We must talk just the same," she returned. "When did you come home?"
"Last night."
"Why did you not let your friends know of your return? All day, infact for several days, they have been sending telegrams to every placewhere they could conceive your being."
He did not answer.
"It looks very much as if you were trying to hide."
Again he did not reply.
"It looks very much," she steadily pursued, "as if your sisterdischarged the nurse and the servant in order that you might hide herein your own home without risk of discovery."
Still he did not answer.
"You need not reply to that question, for the reply is obvious. Iguessed the meaning of the nurse's discharge as soon as I heard of it.I guessed that you were secretly hovering over Elsie, while allWestville thought you were hundreds of miles away. But tell me, howdid you learn that Elsie was sick?"
He hesitated, then swallowed.
"I saw a notice of it in a little country paper."
"Ah, I thought so."
She moved forward and leaned across the desk. Their eyes were no morethan a yard apart.
"Tell me," she said quietly, "why did you slip into town by night? Whyare you hiding in your own home?"
A tremor ran through his slender frame. With an effort he tried totake the upperhand.
"You must excuse me," he said, with an attempt at sharp dignity. "Irefuse to be cross-examined."
"Then I will answer for you. The reason, Doctor Sherman, is that youhave a guilty conscience."
"That is not----"
"Do not lie," she interrupted quickly. "You realize what you havedone, you are afraid it may become public, you are afraid of theconsequences to yourself--and that is why you slipped back in the deadof night and lie hidden like a fugitive in your own house."
A spasm of agony crossed his face.
"For God's sake, tell me what you want and leave me!"
"I want you to clear my father."
"Clear your father?" he cried. "And how, if you please?"
"By confessing that he is innocent."
"When he is guilty!"
"You know he is not."
"He's guilty--he's guilty, I tell you! Besides," he added, wildly,"don't you see that if I proclaim him innocent I proclaim myself aperjured witness?"
She leaned a little farther across the desk.
"Is not that exactly what you are, Doctor Sherman?"
He shrank back as though struck. One hand went tremulously to his chinand he stared at her.
"No! No!" he burst out spasmodically. "It's not so! I shall not admitit! Would you have me ruin myself for all time? Would you have me ruinElsie's future! Would you have me kill her love for me?"
"Then you will not confess?"
"I tell you there is nothing to confess!"
She gazed at him steadily a moment. Then she turned back to the door,softly unlocked and opened it. He started to rush through, but sheraised a hand and stopped him.
"Just look," she commanded in a whisper.
He stared through the open door. They could see Elsie's white faceupon the pillow, with the two dark braids beside it; and could seeDoctor West hovering over her. He had not heard them, but Miss Shermanhad, and she directed at Katherine a pale and hostile glance.
The young husband twisted his hands in agony.
"Oh, Elsie! Elsie!" he moaned.
Katherine closed the door, and turned again to Doctor Sherman.
"You have seen your work," she said. "Do you still persist in yourinnocence?"
He drew a deep, shivering breath and shrank away behind his desk, butdid not answer.
Katherine followed him.
"Do you know how sick your wife is?"
"I heard your father say."
"She is swinging over eternity by a mere thread." Katherine leanedacross the desk and her eyes gazed with an even greater fixity intohis. "If the thread snaps, do you know who will have broken it?"
"Don't! Don't!" he begged.
"Her own husband," Katherine went on relentlessly.
A cry of agony escaped him.
"You saw that old man in there bending over her," she pursued,"trying with all his skill, with all his love, to save her--to saveher from the peril you have plunged her into--and with n
ever a bitterfeeling against you in his heart. If she lives, it will be because ofhim. And yet that old man is ruined and has a blackened reputation. Iask you, do you know who ruined him?"
"Don't! Don't!" he cried, and he sank a crumpled figure at his desk,and buried his face in his arms.
"Look up!" cried Katherine sternly.
"Wait!" he moaned. "Wait!"
She passed around the desk and firmly raised his shoulders.
"Look me in the eyes!"
He lifted a face that worked convulsively.
She stood accusingly before him. "Out with the truth!" she commandedin a rising voice. "In the presence of your wife, perhaps dying, anddying as the result of your act--in the presence of that old man, whomyou have ruined with your word--do you still dare to maintain yourinnocence? Out with the truth, I say!"
He sprang to his feet.
"I can stand it no longer!" he gasped in an agony that went toKatherine's heart. "It's killing me! It's been tearing me apart formonths! What I have suffered--oh, what I have suffered! I'll tell youall--all! Oh, let me get it off my soul!"
The desperation of his outburst, the sight of his fine face convulsedwith uttermost agony and repentance, worked a sudden revulsion inKatherine's heart. All her bitterness, her momentary sternness, rushedout of her, and there she was, quivering all over, hot tears in hereyes, gripping the hands of Elsie's husband.
"I'm so glad--not only for father's sake--but for your sake," shecried chokingly.
"Let me tell you at once! Let me get it out of myself!"
"First sit down," and she gently pressed him back into his chair anddrew one up to face him. "And wait for a moment or two, till you feela little calmer."
He bowed his head into his hands, and for a space breathed deeply andtremulously. Katherine stood waiting. Through the night sounded thebrassy strains of "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Back at the Court HouseBlake's party was opening its great mass-meeting.
"I'm a coward--a coward!" Doctor Sherman groaned at length into hishands. And in a voice of utmost contrition he went on and told how, togain money for the proper care of Elsie, he had been drawn intogambling in stocks; how he had made use of church funds to savehimself in a falling market, and how this church money had, like hisown, been swallowed down by Wall Street; how Blake had discovered theembezzlement, for the time had saved him, but later by threat ofexposure had driven him to play the part he had against Doctor West.
"You must make this statement public, instantly!" Katherine exclaimedwhen he had finished.
He shrank back before that supreme humiliation. "Let me do itlater--please, please!" he besought her.
"A day's delay will be----" She caught his arm. "Listen!" shecommanded.
Both held their breath. Through the night came the stirring music of"The Star Spangled Banner."
"What is that?" he asked.
"The great rally of Mr. Blake's party at the Court House." Her nextwords drove in. "To-morrow Mr. Blake is going to capture the city, andbe in position to rob it. And all because of your act, DoctorSherman!"
"You are right, you are right!" he breathed.
She held out a pen to him.
"You must write your statement at once."
"Yes, yes," he cried, "only let it be short now. I'll make it in fulllater."
"You need write only a summary."
He seized the pen and dipped it into the ink and for a moment held itshaking over a sheet of paper.
"I cannot shape it--the words won't come."
"Shall I dictate it then?"
"Do! Please do!"
"You are willing to confess everything?"
"Everything!"
Katherine stood thinking for a moment at his side.
"Ready, then. Write, 'I embezzled funds from my church; Mr. Blakefound me out, and replaced what I had taken, with no one being thewiser. Later, by the threat of exposing me if I refused, he compelledme to accuse Doctor West of accepting a bribe and still later hecompelled me to testify in court against Doctor West. Mr. Blake'spurpose in so doing was to remove Doctor West from his position, ruinthe water-works, and buy them in at a bargain. I hereby confess anddeclare, of my own free will, that I have been guilty of lying and ofperjury.' Do you want to say that?"
"Yes! Yes!"
"'And I further confess and declare that Dr. David West is innocent inevery detail of the charges made against him. Signed, HaroldSherman.'"
He dropped his pen and sprang up.
"And now may I go in to Elsie?"
"You may."
He hurried noiselessly across the room and through the door.Katherine, picking up the precious paper she had worked so many monthsto gain, followed him. Miss Sherman saw them come in, but remainedsilent. Doctor West was bending over Elsie and did not hear theirentrance.
Doctor Sherman tiptoed to the bedside, and stood gazing down, hisbreath held, hardly less pale than the soft-sleeping Elsie herself.Presently Doctor West straightened up and perceived the youngminister. He started, then held out his hand.
"Why, Doctor Sherman!" he whispered eagerly. "I'm so glad you've comeat last!"
The younger man drew back.
"You won't be willing to shake hands with me--when you know." Then hetook a quick half step forward. "But tell me," he breathed, "isthere--is there any hope?"
"I dare not speak definitely yet--but I think she is going to live."
"Thank God!" cried the young man.
Suddenly he collapsed upon the floor and embraced Doctor West aboutthe knees, and knelt there sobbing out broken bits of sentences.
"Why--why," stammered Doctor West in amazement, "what does this mean?"
Katherine moved forward. Her voice quavered, partly from joy, partlyfrom pity for the anguished figure upon the floor.
"It means you are cleared, father! This will explain." And she gavehim Doctor Sherman's confession.
The old man read it, then passed a bewildered hand across his face.
"I--I don't understand this!"
"I'll explain it later," said Katherine.
"Is--is this true?" It was to the young minister that Doctor Westspoke.
"Yes. And more. I can't ask you to forgive me!" sobbed Doctor Sherman."It's beyond forgiveness! But I want to thank you for saving Elsie. Atleast you'll let me thank you for that!"
"What I have done here has been only my duty as a physician," saidDoctor West gently. "As for the other matter"--he looked the paperthrough, still with bewilderment--"as for that, I'm afraid I am notthe chief sufferer," he said slowly, gently. "I have been under acloud, it is true, and I won't deny that it has hurt. But I am an oldman, and it doesn't matter much. You are young, just beginning life.Of us two you are the one most to be pitied."
"Don't pity me--please!" cried the minister. "I don't deserve it!"
"I'm sorry--so sorry!" Doctor West shook his head. Apparently he hadforgotten the significance of this confession to himself. "I havealways loved Elsie, and I have always admired you and been proud ofyou. So if my forgiveness means anything to you, why I forgive youwith all my heart!"
A choking sound came from the bowed figure, but no words. Hisembracing arms fell away from Doctor West. He knelt there limply, hishead bowed upon his bosom. There was a moment of breathless silence.In the background Miss Sherman stood looking on, white, tense,dry-eyed.
Doctor Sherman turned slowly, fearfully, toward the bed.
"But, Elsie," he whispered in a dry, lost voice. "It's all bad--butthat's the worst of all. When she knows, she never can forgive me!"
Katherine laid a hand upon his shoulder.
"If you think that, then you don't know Elsie. She will be pained, butshe loves you with all her soul; she would forgive you anything solong as you loved her, and she would follow you through every miseryto the ends of the world."
"Do you think so?" he breathed; and then he crept to the bed andburied his face upon it.
Katherine looked down upon him for a moment. Then her own concernsbegan flooding back upon
her. She realized that she had not yet wonthe fight. She had only gained a weapon.
"I must go now," she whispered to her father, taking the paper fromhis hand.
Throbbing with returned excitement, she hurried out to the dimlycomprehended, desperate effort that lay before her.