The Shape of Fear [18]
a ring came at the door. "If it's any one wanting you to leave home," warned his wife, "you must tell them you are all worn out. You've been disturbed every night this week, and it's too much!" The young physician went downstairs. At the door stood a man whom he had never seen before. "My wife is lying very ill next door," said the stranger, "so ill that I fear she will not live till morning. Will you please come to her at once?" "Next door?" cried the physician. "I didn't know the Nethertons were home!" "Please hasten," begged the man. "I must go back to her. Follow as quickly as you can." The doctor went back upstairs to complete his toilet. "How absurd," protested his wife when she heard the story. "There is no one at the Nethertons'. I sit where I can see the front door, and no one can enter without my know- ing it, and I have been sewing by the window all day. If there were any one in the house, the gardener would have the porch lantern lighted. It is some plot. Some one has designs on you. You must not go." But he went. As he left the room his wife placed a revolver in his pocket. The great porch of the mansion was dark, but the physician made out that the door was open, and he entered. A feeble light came from the bronze lamp at the turn of the stairs, and by it he found his way, his feet sinking noiselessly in the rich carpets. At the head of the stairs the man met him. The doctor thought himself a tall man, but the stranger topped him by half a head. He motioned the physician to follow him, and the two went down the hall to the front room. The place was flushed with a rose-colored glow from several lamps. On a silken couch, in the midst of pillows, lay a woman dying with consumption. She was like a lily, white, shapely, graceful, with feeble yet charming movements. She looked at the doctor ap- pealingly, then, seeing in his eyes the in- voluntary verdict that her hour was at hand, she turned toward her companion with a glance of anguish. Dr. Block asked a few questions. The man answered them, the woman remaining silent. The physician ad- ministered something stimulating, and then wrote a prescription which he placed on the mantel-shelf. "The drug store is closed to-night," he said, "and I fear the druggist has gone home. You can have the prescription filled the first thing in the morning, and I will be over before breakfast." After that, there was no reason why he should not have gone home. Yet, oddly enough, he preferred to stay. Nor was it professional anxiety that prompted this delay. He longed to watch those mysterious per- sons, who, almost oblivious of his presence, were speaking their mortal farewells in their glances, which were impassioned and of un- utterable sadness. He sat as if fascinated. He watched the glitter of rings on the woman's long, white hands, he noted the waving of light hair about her temples, he observed the details of her gown of soft white silk which fell about her in voluminous folds. Now and then the man gave her of the stimulant which the doc- tor had provided; sometimes he bathed her face with water. Once he paced the floor for a moment till a motion of her hand quieted him. After a time, feeling that it would be more sensible and considerate of him to leave, the doctor made his way home. His wife was awake, impatient to hear of his experiences. She listened to his tale in silence, and when he had finished she turned her face to the wall and made no comment. "You seem to be ill, my dear," he said. "You have a chill. You are shivering." "I have no chill," she replied sharply. "But I -- well, you may leave the light burning." The next morning before breakfast the doc- tor crossed the dewy sward to the Netherton house. The front door was locked, and no one answered to his repeated ringings. The old gardener chanced to be cutting the grass near at hand, and he came running up. "What you ringin' that door-bell for, doc- tor?" said he. "The folks ain't come home yet. There ain't nobody there." "Yes, there is, Jim. I was called here last night. A man came for me to attend his