God's Good Man by Marie Corelli (best young adult book series .txt) đ
- Author: Marie Corelli
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Walden heard in silence.
âItâs horrible!â he said at lastââYetâI cannot say sorry! I suppose as a Christian minister I ought to be,âbut Iâm not! I only hope none of my people were concerned in the matter?â
âYou may be quite easy on that score,ââreplied ForsythââOf course there will be an inquest, and a severe reproof will be administered to the men who challenged him,âbut there the affair will end. I really donât think we need grieve ourselves unduly over the exit of one scoundrel from a world already overburdened with his species.â With that, he turned and poked the fire into a brighter blaze. âLet us talk of something elseââhe said. âI called in to tell you that Santori is in London, and that I have taken the responsibility upon myself of sending for him to see Miss Vancourt.â
Walden was instantly all earnest attention.
âWho is Santori?â he asked.
âSantori,â replied Forsyth, âis a great Italian, whose scientific researches into medicine and surgery have won him the honour of all nations, save and except the British. We are very insular, my dear Walden!âwe never will tolerate the âfurrinerâ even if he brings us health and healing in his hand! Santori is a medical âfurriner,â therefore he is generally despised by the English medical profession. But Iâm a ScotsmanâIâve no prejudices except my own!â And he laughedââAnd I acknowledge Santori as one of the greatest men of the age. He is a scientist as well as a surgeonâand his great âspecialityâ is the spine and nerves. Now I have never quite explained to you the nature of Miss Vancourtâs injuries, and there is no need even now to particularise them. The main point of her case is that in the condition she is now, she must remain a cripple for life,âandâ here he hesitated,ââthat life cannot, I fear, be a very long one.â
Walden turned his head away for a moment.
âGo on!â he said huskily.
âAt the same time,â continued Dr. Forsyth, gentlyââthere are no bones broken,âall the mischief is centred in damage to the spine. I sent, as you know, for Wentworth Glynn, our best specialist in this country, and he assured me there was no hope whatever of any change for the better. Yesterday, I happened to see in the papers that Santori had arrived in London for a few weeks, and, acting on a sudden inspiration, I wrote him a letter at once, explaining the whole case, and asking him to meet me in consultation. He has wired an answer to-day, saying he will be here to-morrow.â
Waldenâs eyes were full of sorrowful pain and yearning.
âWell!â he said, with a slight sighââAnd what then?â
âWhat then?â responded Dr. âJimmyâ cheerfullyââWhy nothing,âexcept that it will be more satisfactory to everyone concerned,âand to me particularlyâto have his opinion.â
There was a pause. John gazed down into the fire as though he saw a whole world of mingled grief and joy reflected in its crimson glow. Then, suddenly lifting his head, he looked his friend full in the face.
âForsyth,ââhe saidââI think I ought to tell youâyou ought to knowâI am going to marry her!â
Without a word, âJimmyâ gripped his hand and pressed it hard. Then he turned very abruptly, and walked up and down the little room. And presently he drew out his glasses and polished them vigorously though they were in no need of this process.
âI thought you would!â he said, after a whileââOf course I saw how the land lay! I knew you loved her---â
âI suppose that was easy to guess!â said John, a warm flush of colour rising to his brows as he spokeââBut you could not have imagined for a moment that she would love me! Yet she does! That is the wonder of it! I am such an old humdrum fellowâand she is so young and bright and pretty! It seems so strange that she should care!â
Dr. Forsyth looked at him with an appreciative twinkle in his eye. Then he laid a friendly hand upon his shoulder,
âYou are a quaint creature, John!â he saidââYet, do you know, I rather like your humdrum ways? I do, positively! And if I were a woman, I think I should esteem myself fortunate if I got you for a husband! I really should! You certainly donât suffer from swelled head, Johnâthatâs a great point in your favour!â
He laughed,âand John laughed with him. Then, drawing their chairs to opposite sides of the fire, they talked for an hour or more on the subject that was most interesting to them both, John was for marrying Maryllia as soon as possibleââin order that I may have the right to watch over her,â he urged, and Forsyth agreed.
âBut wait till Santori has seen her, and given his opinion,ââhe saidââIf he comes, as his telegram says he will to-morrow, we can take him entirely into our confidence, to decide what is best for her peace and pleasure. The ceremony of marriage can be gone through privately at the Manor,âby the way, why donât you ask your friend the Bishop to officiate? I suppose he knows the position?â
âHe knows much, but not all,ââsaid JohnââI wrote to him about the accident of courseâand have written to him frequently since, but I did not think I should ever have such news to tell him as I have now!â His eyes darkened with deep feeling. âHe has had his own tragedyâhe will understand mine!â
A silence fell between them,âand soon after, Forsyth took his leave. Walden, left alone, and deeply conscious of the new responsibility he had taken upon his life, set to work to get through his parish business for the evening, in order to have time to devote to Maryllia the next day, and, writing a long letter to Bishop Brent, he told him all the history of his late-found happiness,âhis hopes, his sorrows, his fearsâand his intention to show what a manâs true love could be to a woman whom unkind destiny had deprived of all the natural joys of living. He added to this letter a few words referring to Forsythâs information respecting the Italian specialist, Santori, who had been sent for to see Maryllia and pronounce on her conditionââbut I fear,â he wrote, âthat there is nothing to be done, save to resign ourselves to the apparently cruel and incomprehensible will of God, which in this case has declared itself in favour of allowing the innocent to suffer.â
Next morning he awoke to find the sun shining brightly from a sky almost clear blue, save for a few scattered grey fleecy clouds,â and, stepping out into his garden, the first thing he noticed was a root of primroses breaking shyly into flower. Seeing Bainton trimming the shrubbery close by, he called his attention to it.
âSpring is evidently on the way, Bainton!â he said cheerily, âWe are getting past the white into the gold again!â
âAy, Passon, that we be!â rejoined Bainton, with a smileââAnâ please the Lord, weâll soon get from the gold into the blue, anâ from the blue into the rose! For thatâs allus the way oâ the year,â first little white shaky blossoms wotâs a bit afraid of theirselves, lest the frost should nip âem,âand then the deep anâ the pale anâ the bright gold blossoms, which just laughs at dull weatherâanâ then the blue oâ the forget-me-nots anâ wood-bells,âanâ the red oâ the roses to crown all. Anâ mebbe,â he continued, with a shrewd upward glance at his masterâs faceââwhen the roses come, thereâll be a bit of orange-blossom to keep âem company---â
John started,âand then his kind smile, so warm and sunny and sweet, shone like a beam of light itself across his features.
âWhat, Bainton!â he saidââSo you know all about it already!â
Bainton began to chuckle irrepressibly.
âWell, if the village ainât a liar from its one end to its tâotherest, then I knows!â he declared triumphantlyââLord love ye, Passon, you donât sâpose ye can keep any secrets in this âere parish? They knows all about ye âfore ye knows yerself!âanâ Missis Spruce she came down from the Manor last night in such a state oâ fluster as never was, anâ she sez, all shakinâ like anâ smilinââ âMiss Marylliaâs goinâ to be married,â sez she, anâ we up anâ sez to âerââWhat, is the Dook goinâ to âave her just the same though she canât walk no more?â anâ she sez: âDook, not a bit of it! Thereâs a better man than any Dook close by anâ itâs âim sheâs goinâ to âave anâ nobody else, anâ itâs Passon Walden,â sez she, anâ with that we all gives a big shout, anâ she busts out cryinâ anâ laughinâ together, anâ we all doos the same like the nesh fools we are when a bit oâ news pleases us like,âanââanâ---â Here Baintonâs voice grew rather husky and tremulous as he proceededââso of course the news went right through the village two minutes arterwards. Anâ itâs all we could do to keep from cominâ up outside âere anâ givinâ ye a rousinâ cheer âfore goinâ to bed, onny Mr. Netlips âe said it wouldnât be âcommensurate,â wotever that is, so we just left it. Howsomever, I made up my mind Iâd be the first to wish ye joy, Passon!âanâ I wish it true!â
Silently Walden held out his hand. Bainton grasped it with affectionate respect in his own horny palm.
âNot that Iâd âave ever thought youâd aâ bin a marryinâ man, Passon!â he averred, his shrewd eyes lighting up with the kindliest humourââBut itâs never too late to mend!â
Walden laughed.
âThatâs true, Bainton! Itâs never too late to repent of oneâs follies and begin to be wise! Thank you for all your good wishesâ they come from the heart, I know! Butââand his smile softened into an earnest gravity of expressionââthey must be for herâfor Miss Marylliaânot for me! I am already happier than I deserveâbut she needs everyoneâs good thoughts and prayers to help her to bear her enforced helplessnessâshe is very braveâyetâit is hard---â
He broke off, not trusting himself to say more.
âItâs hardâitâs powerful hard!â agreed Bainton, sympatheticallyâ âSuch a wife as sheâd aâ made tâye, Passon, if sheâd been as she was when she come in smilinâ anâ trippinâ across this lawn by your side, anâ ye broke off a bit oâ your best lilac for her! Thereâs the very bushâall leafless twigs now, but strong anâ âelthy anâ ready to bloom again! Ah! I remember that day well!ââtwas the same day as ye sat under the apple tree arter she was gone anâ fastened a threepenny bit with a âole in it to yeâre watch chain! I seed it! Anâ I was fair mazed over that âoley bit,âbut I found out all about it!âhor-hor-hor!â and Bainton began to laugh with exceeding delight at his own perspicuityââA few minutesâ gossip with
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