God's Good Man by Marie Corelli (best young adult book series .txt) đ
- Author: Marie Corelli
- Performer: -
Book online «God's Good Man by Marie Corelli (best young adult book series .txt) đ». Author Marie Corelli
âYou could indeed!â laughed John, good-naturedlyââand yetâI suppose you didnât!â
âNot I!â said Bainton, stoutlyââI do talk a bit, but I ainât Missis Spruce, nor I ainât turned into a telephone tube yet. Mebbe I will when Iâm a bit older. âAve ye heard, Passon, as âow Oliver Leach is dead?â
âYes,âDr. Forsyth told me last night.â
âNow dâye think a man like âim is gone to Heaven!â demanded Bainton- -âHonest anâ true, dâye think the Lord Almighty wants âim?â
John was rather non-plussed. His garrulous gardener watched his face with attentive interest.
âDonât ye answer unless ye like, Passon!â he observed, sagaciouslyâ âI donât want to make ye say things which ainât orthodox! You keep a still tongue, anâ I shall understand!â
John took the hint. He âkept a still tongueââand turned back from the garden into the house. Bainton chuckled softly.
âPasson canât lie!â he said to himselfââHe couldnât do it to save his life! Thatâs just the best of âim! Now if heâd begun tellinâ me that he was sure that blackhearted rascal âad gone to keep company with the angels Iâd a nigh despised im!âI would reely now!â
That same morning, when John walked up to the Manor again, he entered it as a privileged person, invested with new authority. Cicely ran to meet him, and frankly put up her face to be kissed.
âA thousand and one congratulations!â she saidââI knew this would come!âI was sure of it! But the credit of the first guess is due to the Mooncalf,âJulian, you know!âheâs a poet, and he made up a whole romance about you and Maryllia the first day he ever saw you with her!â
âDid he?ââand Walden smiledââWell, he was right! I am very happy, Cicely!â
âSo am I!â And the âGoblinâ clasped her hands affectionately across his armââYou are just the very man I should have chosen for Maryllia!âthe only man, in factâIâve never met anybody else worthy of her! But oh, if she were only strong and well! Do you know that Dr. Forsyth is bringing another specialist to see her this afternoon?â
âYes, I know!â
âAnd thereâs other news for you this morningââpursued Cicely, a broad smile lighting up her face and eyesââVery amusing news! Lord Roxmouth is married!â
âMarried!â exclaimed Walden, incredulouslyââNot possible!â
âCome and see the wedding cards!ââand Cicely, laughing outright, caught his hand, and pulled him along into the morning room, where Maryllia, with her couch turned so that she could see the first glimpse of her lover as he entered the doorway, was eagerly awaiting his approachââMaryllia, hereâs John! Prove to him at once please that Mrs. Fredâs millions are lost to you forever!â
Maryllia laughed, and blushed sweetly too, as John bent over her and kissed her with a very expressive look of tenderness, not to say proprietorship.
âItâs true, John!â she saidââLord Roxmouth has married Aunt Emily!â
Johnâs blue eyes lighted with sudden laughter.
âWell done!â he exclaimed, gailyââAnything for the millions, evidently! What a comfort to think he has secured them at last! And so you have become the niece instead of the wife of the future duke, my Maryllia! When and where were they married?â
âLast week at the Embassy in Paris. Cicely wrote to Aunt Emily at New Year, telling her that though I was much better, the doctors had said I should be a cripple for life. Well, we never had any answer at all to that letter,ânot a word of regret, or affection or sympathy. Then,âthis morningâbehold!âthe Roxmouth wedding cards!â
She took a silver-bordered envelope lying on a little table close beside her, and drawing out from it the cards in question, held them up to his view. Walden glanced at them with a touch of contempt.
âShall I wire our united heartiest congratulations?â he queried, smilingââAnd add that we are engaged to be married?â
âDo!â said Maryllia, clasping his hand in her own and kissing itâ âGo and send the wire off through dear old Mrs. Tapple! And then all the village will know how happy I am!â
âHow happy WE are,ââcorrected JohnââI think they know that already, Maryllia! But it shall be well impressed upon them!â
Later on, when he was in the village, making his usual round of visits among the sick and poor, and receiving the affectionate good wishes of many who had heard the news of his betrothal, he saw Dr. Forsyth driving up to the Manor in his gig with another man beside him, who, as he rightly guessed, was no other than the celebrated Italian specialist, Santori. Forsyth had promised to come and tell him the result of the consultation as soon as he knew it himself, and Walden waited for him hour after hour with increasing impatience. At last he appeared,âpale, and evidently under the influence of some strongly suppressed excitement.
âWalden,ââhe said, without preface or hesitationââare you prepared to face a great crisis?â
Waldenâs heart almost stood still. Had anything happened to Maryllia in the short space of time which had elapsed since he saw her last?
âWhat do you mean?!â he falteredââI could not bear to lose herâ now---â
âYou must lose her in a year at the utmost, if you do not run the risk of losing her to save her now,ââsaid Forsyth, bluntlyâ âSantori has seen herâandâkeep cool, John!âhe says there is just one chance of restoring her to her former health and activity again, but it is a chance fraught with imminent danger to her life. He will not risk it without her full consent,âand (knowing you are her betrothed husband)âyours. It is a very serious and difficult operation,âshe may live through it, and she may not.â
âI will not have it!â said Walden, quickly, almost fiercely, âShe shall not be touched---â
âWait!â continued Forsyth, regarding him steadilyââIn her present condition, she will die in a year. She must. There is no help for it. If Santori operatesâand he is quite willing to undertake itâ she may live,âand not only may she live, but she may be absolutely strong and well again,âable to walk and ride, and enjoy her life to the full. It rests with her and with you to decide,âyes or no!â
Walden was silent.
âI may as well tell you,ââwent on Forsythââthat sheâMiss Vancourt herself,âis ready to risk it. Santori has gone back to London to- night,âbut if we agree to place her under his hands he will come and perform the operation next week.â
âNext week!â murmured Walden, faintlyââMust it be so soon?â
âThe sooner the better,ââsaid Forsyth, quietly, yet firmly, âCome, John, face this thing out! I am thinking of the chance of her happiness as well as yours. Is it worth while to sacrifice the whole of a young lifeâs possible activity for the sake of one yearâs certainty of helplessness with death at the end? Wrestle the facts out with yourself;âgo and see her to-night. And after you have talked it over together, let me know.â
He went out then, and left Walden alone to face this new dark cloud of anxiety and suspense that seemed to loom over a sky which he imagined had just cleared. But when he saw Maryllia that evening, her face reflected nothing but sunshine, and her eyes were radiant with hope.
âI must take this chance, John!â she saidââDo not withhold your consent! Think what it means to us both if this great surgeon is able to set me on my feet again!âand he is so kind and gentle!âhe says he has every hope of success! What happiness it will be for me if I can be all in all to you, John!âa real true wife, instead of a poor helpless invalid dependent on your daily care!âoh John, let me show you how much I love you by facing this ordeal, and trying to save my life for your sake!â
He drew her into his arms, and folded her close to his heart.
âMy childâmy darling! If you wish it, it shall be done!â he murmured brokenlyââAnd may God in His great mercy be good to us both! But if you die, my Maryllia, I shall die tooâso we shall still be together!â
So it was settled; and Dr. Forsyth, vacillating uneasily between hope and fear, communicated the decision at once to the famous Italian surgeon, who, without any delay or hesitation responded by promptly fixing a day in the ensuing week for his performance of the critical task which was either to kill or cure a woman who to one man was the dearest of all earthâs creatures. And with such dreadful rapidity did the hours fly towards that day that Walden experienced in himself all the trembling horrors of a condemned criminal who knows that his execution is fixed for a certain moment to which Time itself seems racing like a relentless bloodhound, sure of its quarry. Writing to Bishop Brent he told him all, and thus concluded his letter:â
âIf I lose her nowânow, after the joy of knowing that she loves me- -I shall kneel before you broken-hearted and implore your forgiveness for ever having called you selfish in the extremity of your grief and despair for the loss of love. For I am myself utterly selfish to the heartâs core, and though I say every night in my prayers âThy Will be done,â I know that if she is taken from me I shall rebel against that Will! For I am only human,âand make no pretence to be more than a man who loves greatly.â
During this interval of suspense Cicely and Julian were thrown much together. Every moment that Walden could spare from his parish work, he passed by the side of his beloved, knowing that his presence made her happy, and fearing that these days might be his last with her on earth. Maryllia herself however seemed to have no such forebodings. She was wonderfully bright and cheerful, and though her body was so helpless her face was radiant with such perfect happiness that it looked as fair as that of any pictured angel. Cicely, recognising the nature of the ordeal through which these two lovers were passing, left them as much by themselves as possible, and laid upon Julian the burden of her own particular terrors which she was at no pains to conceal. And unfortunately Julian did not, under the immediate circumstances, prove a very cheery comforter.
âI hate the knife!â he said, gloomilyââEveryone is cut up or slashed about in these daysâthereâs too much of it altogether. If ever a fruit pip goes the way it should not go into my interior mechanism, I hope it may be left there to sprout up into a tree if it likesâI donât mind, so long as Iâm not sliced up for appendicitis or pipcitis or whatever it is.â
âI wonder what our great-grandparents used to do when they were ill?â queried Cicely, with a melancholy stare in her big, pitiful dark eyes.
âThey let blood,ââreplied JulianââThey used to go to the barberâs and get a vein cut at the same time as their hair. Of course it was all wrong. We all know
Comments (0)