Elephant Man - Christine Sparks [25]
“Sir, if you’ll just let me explain …”
“I do wish you would,” said the Chairman plaintively. “A hospital is no place for secrecy, Mr. Treves. Doctors spiriting hooded figures about are liable to cause comment. Why wasn’t this patient properly admitted? Is he contagious?”
“No, sir. He’s got bronchitis and he’s been badly beaten.”
“Why isn’t he in the General Ward then?”
“Well sir—” Treves hesitated between saying too much and too little. “—He’s quite seriously deformed, and I fear the other patients would find him—rather shocking.”
“Deformed? Is that it? Then I am to assume that he is ultimately incurable?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What are your plans then, Treves? You are aware that the London does not accept incurables? The rules are quite clear on that point.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of that. But this case is quite exceptional.”
“Oh?” Carr-Gomm’s eyebrows lifted coolly. “Is he a friend of yours?”
“No, more of an acquaintance. I’ve—examined him a good deal over the last fortnight and—the fact is I feel rather responsible for him.
“Am I to assume that this is the Elephant Man with whom you caused such a stir with the Pathological Society yesterday, Treves? I was regrettably unable to attend myself but the reports—glowing reports I may add—of your success, reached me almost at once.”
“It is the same man—”
“And naturally you take an interest in his general health even though your need for him as a specimen is now a good deal less? That is very proper and humane, and what I should have expected of you. But my dear fellow, let us not lose our sense of proportion. You naturally feel an obligation—even perhaps gratitude to a man who has been of so much benefit to you. But you cannot be responsible for him for the rest of his life. Presumably he has a home?”
“Not a home I should ever send him back to. He is kept by a man called Bytes who describes himself as his ‘owner’—as if he was an animal. He exhibits him wherever he can—for twopence. I first encountered him at a fun-fair sideshow, which the police were in the process of closing down as an affront to decency.”
“Good grief!” said Carr-Gomm, genuinely appalled.
“When he is not on display he is abused and beaten and fed just enough to keep him alive. And the next time Bytes is not permitted to display him for profit I’m afraid he will be abandoned to starve altogether. In the circumstances I didn’t feel I could leave him where he was, and this hospital is the only place I knew of to bring him.”
“I certainly sympathize with your problem, Treves. Why don’t you try the British Home, or the Royal Hospital for Incurables? Perhaps they would have a place for him.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll look into that.” Treves hesitated. “Would you like to meet him, sir?”
Before Carr-Gomm could answer the peace of the hospital was shattered by a shrill, terrified scream that echoed down through two floors. Treves leapt to his feet. He didn’t have to ask where it had come from or what had caused it.
“Excuse me!” he said tersely, and was out of the door, running fast down the corridor and past the shocked faces of nurses and doctors. He took the stairs like a madman until he reached the small landing outside the Isolation Ward, where he found the sight he’d most dreaded. Through the open ward door he could see the Elephant Man, his hideousness nakedly apparent crouched on the bed, trying to squeeze himself out of sight in the corner. On the floor lay the shattered ruins of his breakfast where Nora had dropped them. Nora herself was on the landing, one hand clutching the railings, the other covering her face as she fought to control her hysterical sobs.
Hurriedly Treves closed the door and put one arm round Nora, holding her in a strong steadying hug.
“I’m sorry, my dear. I should have warned you. I’m so terribly sorry. Please forgive me,” he said gently.
With a valiant effort she forced herself to seem calm and wiped her face with her apron. When she looked up at him she was biting her lips to stop them trembling but