Heart and Science by Wilkie Collins (best new books to read TXT) đ
- Author: Wilkie Collins
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âDo you know what you said of my cousin, just now?â he began.
His tone seemed to surprise the doctor. âWhat did I say?â he asked.
âYou used a very offensive word. You called Carmina a âmisbegotten child.â Are you repeating some vile slander on the memory of her mother?â
Benjulia came to another standstill. âSlander?â he repeatedâand said no more.
Ovidâs anger broke out. âYes!â he replied. âOr a lie, if you like, told of a woman as high above reproach as your mother or mine!â
âYou are hot,â the doctor remarked, and walked on again. âWhen I was in Italyââ he paused to calculate, âwhen I was at Rome, fifteen years ago, your cousin was a wretched little rickety child. I said to Robert Graywell, âDonât get too fond of that girl; sheâll never live to grow up.â He said something about taking her away to the mountain air. I didnât think, myself, the mountain air would be of any use. It seems I was wrong. Well! itâs a surprise to me to find herââ he waited, and calculated again, âto find her grown up to be seventeen years old.â To Ovidâs ears, there was an inhuman indifference in his tone as he said this, which it was impossible not to resent, by looks, if not in words. Benjulia noticed the impression that he had produced, without in the least understanding it. âYour nervous systemâs in a nasty state,â he remarked; âyou had better take care of yourself. Iâll go and look at the monkey.â
His face was like the face of the impenetrable sphinx; his deep bass voice droned placidly. Ovidâs anger had passed by him like the passing of the summer air. âGood-bye!â he said; âand take care of those nasty nerves. I tell you againâthey mean mischief.â
Not altogether willingly, Ovid made his apologies. âIf I have misunderstood you, I beg your pardon. At the same time, I donât think I am to blame. Why did you mislead me by using that detestable word?â
âWasnât it the right word?â
âThe right wordâwhen you only wanted to speak of a poor sickly child! Considering that you took your degree at Oxfordââ
âYou could expect nothing better from the disadvantages of my education,â said the doctor, finishing the sentence with the grave composure that distinguished him. âWhen I said âmisbegotten,â perhaps I ought to have said âhalf-begottenâ? Thank you for reminding me. Iâll look at the dictionary when I get home.â
Ovidâs mind was not set at ease yet. âThereâs one other thing,â he persisted, âthat seems unaccountable.â He started, and seized Benjulia by the arm. âStop!â he cried, with a sudden outburst of alarm.
âWell?â asked the doctor, stopping directly. âWhat is it?â
âNothing,â said Ovid, recoiling from a stain on the gravel walk, caused by the remains of an unlucky beetle, crushed under his friendâs heavy foot. âYou trod on the beetle before I could stop you.â
Benjuliaâs astonishment at finding an adult male human being (not in a lunatic asylum) anxious to spare the life of a beetle, literally struck him speechless. His medical instincts came to his assistance. âYou had better leave London at once,â he suggested. âGet into pure air, and be out of doors all day long.â He turned over the remains of the beetle with the end of his stick. âThe common beetle,â he said; âI havenât damaged a Specimen.â
Ovid returned to the subject, which had suffered interruption through his abortive little act of mercy. âYou knew my uncle in Italy. It seems strange, Benjulia, that I should never have heard of it before.â
âYes; I knew your uncle; and,â he added with especial emphasis, âI knew his wife.â
âWell?â
âWell, I canât say I felt any particular interest in either of them. Nothing happened afterwards to put me in mind of the acquaintance till you told me who the young lady was, just now.
âSurely my mother must have reminded you?â
âNot that I can remember. Women in her position donât much fancy talking of a relative who has marriedââhe stopped to choose his next words. âI donât want to be rude; suppose we say married beneath him?â
Reflection told Ovid that this was true. Even in conversation with himself (before the arrival in England of Robertâs Will), his mother rarely mentioned her brotherâand still more rarely his family. There was another reason for Mrs. Gallileeâs silence, known only to herself. Robert was in the secret of her debts, and Robert had laid her under heavy pecuniary obligations. The very sound of his name was revolting to his amiable sister: it reminded her of that humiliating sense, known in society as a sense of gratitude.
Carmina was still waitingâand there was nothing further to be gained by returning to the subject of her mother with such a man as Benjulia. Ovid held out his hand to say good-bye.
Taking the offered hand readily enough, the doctor repeated his odd questionââI havenât been rude, have I?ââwith an unpleasant appearance of going through a form purely for formâs sake. Ovidâs natural generosity of feeling urged him to meet the advance, strangely as it had been made, with a friendly reception.
âI am afraid it is I who have been rude,â he said. âWill you go back with me, and be introduced to Carmina?â
Benjulia made his acknowledgments in his own remarkable way. âNo, thank you,â he said, quietly, âIâd rather see the monkey.â
CHAPTER XIV.
In the meantime, Zo had become the innocent cause of a difference of opinion between two no less dissimilar personages than Maria and the duenna.
Having her mind full of the sick monkey, the child felt a natural curiosity to see the other monkeys who were well. Amiable Miss Minerva consulted her young friend from Italy before she complied with Zoâs wishes. Would Miss Carmina like to visit the monkey-house? Ovidâs cousin, remembering Ovidâs promise, looked towards the end of the walk. He was not returning to herâhe was not even in sight. Carmina resigned herself to circumstances, with a little air of pique which was duly registered in Miss Minervaâs memory.
Arriving at the monkey-house, Teresa appeared in a new character. She surprised her companions by showing an interest in natural history.
âAre they all monkeys in that big place?â she asked. âI donât know much about foreign beasts. How do they like it, I wonder?â
This comprehensive inquiry was addressed to the governess, as the most learned person present. Miss Minerva referred to her elder pupil with an encouraging smile. âMaria will inform you,â she said. âHer studies in natural history have made her well acquainted with the habits of monkeys.â
Thus authorised to exhibit her learning, even the discreet Maria actually blushed with pleasure. It was that young ladyâs most highly-prized reward to display her knowledge (in imitation of her governessâs method of instruction) for the benefit of unfortunate persons of the lower rank, whose education had been imperfectly carried out. The tone of amiable patronage with which she now imparted useful information to a woman old enough to be her grandmother, would have made the hands of the bygone generation burn to box her ears.
âThe monkeys are kept in large and airy cages,â Maria began; âand the temperature is regulated with the utmost care. I shall be happy to point out to you the difference between the monkey and the ape. You are not perhaps aware that the members of the latter family are called âSimiadae,â and are without tails and cheek-pouches?â
Listening so far in dumb amazement, Teresa checked the flow of information at tails and cheek-pouches.
âWhat gibberish is this child talking to me?â she asked. âI want to know how the monkeys amuse themselves in that large house?â
Mariaâs perfect training condescended to enlighten even this state of mind.
âThey have ropes to swing on,â she answered sweetly; âand visitors feed them through the wires of the cage. Branches of trees are also placed for their diversion; reminding many of them no doubt of the vast tropical forests in which, as we learn from travellers, they pass in flocks from tree to tree.â
Teresa held up her hand as a signal to stop. âA little of You, my young lady, goes a long way,â she said. âConsider how much I can hold, before you cram me at this rate.â
Maria was bewildered, but nor daunted yet. âPardon me,â she pleaded; âI fear I donât quite understand you.â
âThen there are two of us puzzled,â the duenna remarked. âI donât understand you. I shanât go into that house. A Christian canât be expected to care about beastsâbut right is right all the world over. Because a monkey is a nasty creature (as I have heard, not even good to eat when heâs dead), thatâs no reason for taking him out of his own country and putting him into a cage. If we are to see creatures in prison, letâs see creatures who have deserved itâmen and women, rogues and sluts. The monkeys havenât deserved it. Go inâIâll wait for you at the door.â
Setting her bitterest emphasis on this protest, which expressed inveterate hostility to Maria (using compassion for caged animals as the readiest means at hand), Teresa seated herself in triumph on the nearest bench.
A young person, possessed of no more than ordinary knowledge, might have left the old woman to enjoy the privilege of saying the last word. Miss Minervaâs pupil, exuding information as it were at every pore in her skin, had been rudely dried up at a momentâs notice. Even earthly perfection has its weak places within reach. Maria lost her temper.
âYou will allow me to remind you,â she said, âthat intelligent curiosity leads us to study the habits of animals that are new to us. We place them in a cageââ
Teresa lost her temper.
âYouâre an animal thatâs new to me,â cried the irate duenna. âI never in all my life met with such a child before. If you please, madam governess, put this girl into a cage. My intelligent curiosity wants to study a monkey thatâs new to me.â
It was fortunate for Teresa that she was Carminaâs favourite and friend, and, as such, a person to be carefully handled. Miss Minerva stopped the growing quarrel with the readiest discretion and good-feeling. She patted Teresa on the shoulder, and looked at Carmina with a pleasant smile. âWorthy old creature! how full of humour she is! The energy of the people, Miss Carmina. I often remark the quaint force with which they express their ideas. Noânot a word of apology, I beg and pray. Maria, my dear, take your sisterâs hand, and we will follow.â She put her arm in Carminaâs arm with the happiest mixture of familiarity and respect, and she nodded to Carminaâs old companion with the cordiality of a good-humoured friend.
Teresa was not further irritated by being kept waiting for any length of time. In a few minutes Carmina joined her on the bench.
âTired of the beasts already, my pretty one?â
âWorse than tiredâdriven away by the smell! Dear old Teresa, why did you speak so roughly to Miss Minerva and Maria?â
âBecause I hate them! because I hate the family! Was your poor father demented in his last moments, when he trusted you among these detestable people?â
Carmina listened in astonishment. âYou said just the contrary of the family,â she exclaimed, âonly yesterday!â
Teresa hung her head in confusion. Her well-meant attempt to reconcile Carmina to the new life on which she had entered was now revealed as a sham, thanks to her own outbreak of temper. The one honest alternative left was to own the truth, and put Carmina on her guard without alarming her, if possible.
âIâll never tell a lie again, as long as I live,â Teresa declared. âYou see I didnât like to discourage you. After all, I dare say Iâm more wrong than right in my opinion. But it is my opinion, for all that. I hate those women, mistress and governess, both alike. There! now
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