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Place Beyond The Winds

<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> For two or three days things fell into such commonplace routine that the excitement of the big operation and the disturbing dream of the night lost their sharp, clear lines; became blurred and part of the web and woof of the hospital régime. There was little time for introspection or romancing and even the chance meeting with Jerry-Jo was relegated to the non-essentials. Of course he was in the city, but so were the Hornby boys and others from the In-Place. The whirlpool was a big and rushing thing, and if they who had once been neighbours caught a glimpse of each other from dizzy eddies, what did it matter? The possibility of second meetings was rare. John Boswell had been sympathetic, to a certain degree, with Priscilla concerning the operation and her very evident pride in the part she had been permitted to take in it. With the instinctive horror that many have concerning sickness and suffering, he always made an effort to appear sympathetic when Priscilla grew graphic. Often this caused her to laugh, but she never doubted Boswell's sincere interest in her, personally. That she had overcome and achieved was a thing of real gratification to the lonely man; that she came to him naturally and eagerly, during her hours of freedom, was the only unalloyed joy of his present existence. Even Toky hailed her appearances now with frank pleasure, for she, and she alone, brought the rare, sweet smile to the master's face and gave a meaning to the artistic meals that were planned. "I think, my Butterfly," Boswell often said to her, "that you have soared to glory through suffering and gore! But it is the soaring and the glory that matter, after all. Do not lay it up against your poor Beetle if he makes a wry face now and then. You are desperately dramatic, you know, but even in my shudders I do not lose sight of the fact that you are a very triumphant Butterfly." Priscilla beamed upon him; the new light of well-poised serenity did not escape him. "If I could only explain!" she once said to him as they sat facing each other across the table that Toky had laid so artistically. "When I feel the deepest my words seem shut in a cage; only a few get through the bars. I really believe people all feel the same about their little victories. It isn't the kind of victory; it is the sure realization that you are doing your work—the work you can do best. Why, sometimes I feel as if I were the big All Mother, and the sad, helpless, suffering folk were my dear children just looking to me—to me! And then I try to take the pain and fear from their faces by all the arts my profession has taught me and all the—the something that is in me, and—I tell you——" Priscilla paused, while the shining light in her big eyes was brightened, rather than lessened, by the tears that gathered, then retreated. "And for all this," Boswell broke in, "you are to get twenty-five per, or for a particular case, thirty-five per?" They smiled broadly at each other, for their one huge, compelling joke loomed close. "Well, sir, when one considers what two intelligent people, like you and me, did with Master Farwell's one hundred dollars, the future looks wonderfully rich! I shall soon be able to repay the loan with interest." And then they talked a bit of Master Farwell and the In-Place, always skirting the depths gracefully, for Boswell never permitted certain subjects to escape his control. It was the half-playful, but wholly kind dignity that had won for him Priscilla's faith and dependence. For a week or two after Gordon Moffatt's operation things went calmly and prosaically at the hospital. The rich man recovered so rapidly and satisfactorily that even the outside world took things for granted, and any items of news concerning him were to be found on the inside pages of the newspapers. During his convalescence Priscilla met Doctor Ledyard and Doctor Travers many times. Once, by some mysterious arrangement, she was assigned charge, in the rich man's room, while his own nurse was absent. For three days and nights she obeyed his impatient commands and reasoned with him when he confused his dependent condition with his usual domineering position. "Damn me!" he once complained to Travers when he thought Priscilla was out of hearing; "that young woman you've given charge over me ought to have a bigger field for her accomplishments. She's a natural-born tyrant. I tried to escape her this morning; had got as far as one foot out of bed when she bore down upon me, calmly, devilishly calmly, pointed to my offending foot, and said: "Back, sir!" Then we argued a bit—I'm afraid I was a trifle testy—and finally she laid hands upon my ankle in the most scientific manner and had me on my back before I could think of the proper adjectives to apply to her impudence." Travers laughed and looked beyond the sick man's bed to the bowed head of Priscilla as she bent over some preparation she was compounding in an anteroom. From a high window the sunlight was streaming down on the wonderful rusty-coloured hair. The girl's attitude of detachment and concentration held the physician's approving glance, but the wave of hair under the white cap and against the smooth, clear skin lingered in the memory of the man long after he forgot Moffatt's amusing anecdote. And then, because things were closing in upon Priscilla Glenn's little stage, something happened so commonplace in its character that its effect upon the girl was out of all proportion. After a rather strenuous day she was sleeping heavily in her little white room when a sharp knock on her door brought her well-trained senses into action at once. "There's been an accident, Miss Glynn." It was the superintendent who spoke. "Please report on Ward Five as soon as possible." It was an insignificant accident; such a one as occurs shockingly often in our big cities. A large touring car, with seven passengers, rushing up a broad avenue with a conscientious man at the wheel, had overhauled a poor derelict with apparently no fixed purpose in his befuddled brain. In order to spare the fellow, the chauffeur had wheeled his car madly to one side, and, by so doing, had hit an electric-light pole, with the result that every one was more or less injured, the forlorn creature who had caused the excitement, most of all, for the over-turned machine had included him in its crushing destruction. Four men and three women were carried to St. Albans and now occupied private rooms, while the torn and broken body of the unknown stranger lay in Ward Five, quite unconscious. He was breathing faintly, and, since they had made him clean and decent, he looked very young and wan as he rested upon the narrow, white bed. Priscilla stood at the foot of the cot and read the chart which a former nurse had hurriedly made out; then she came around to the side and looked down upon—Jerry-Jo McAlpin! She knew him at once. The deathlike repose had wiped away much that recent years had engraven on his face. He looked as Priscilla remembered him, standing in his father's boat, proudly playing the man. For a moment the quiet girl grew rigid with superstitious fear. That deathlike creature before her filled her with unreasoning alarm. She almost expected him to open his black eyes and laughingly announce that he had found her at last! She longed to flee from the room before he had a chance to gain control of her. She breathed fast and hard, as she had that morning when his ringing jeer had stayed her feet as she ran from the Far Hill Place after the night of terror. Then sanity came to her relief and she knew, with a pitying certainty born of her training, that Jerry-Jo McAlpin could never harm her again. That he was a link between the past and the future she realized with strange sureness. He had always been that. He had made things happen; been the factor in bringing experiences to her. She, in self-preservation, would not claim any knowledge of him now; she would care for him and wait—wait until she understood just what part he was to play in her present experience. He might threaten all that she had gained for herself—her peace and security. Her only safeguard now was to ignore the personality before her and respond to the appeal of the "case." Jerry-Jo was destined to become interesting before he slipped away. Known only as a number, since he had not been identified or claimed, he rapidly rose to importance. After three days of unconsciousness he still persisted, and while his soul wandered on the horizon, his body responded to the care given it and grew in strength. One doctor after another watched and commented on his chances, and in due time Doctor Travers, hearing of the case, stopped to examine it, and, in the interest of science, suggested an operation that might possibly return the poor fellow to a world that had evidently no place for him. "It's worth trying," Travers said as he and Priscilla stood beside the bed. "We haven't found out anything concerning him, have we?" Priscilla shook her head. "Suppose he—well, suppose he had any claim upon you, would you take the chance of the operation for him?" The deep, friendly eyes were fixed upon the girl. She coloured sharply, then went quite pale. There was a most unaccountable struggle, and Travers smiled as he thought how conscientious she was to feel any deep responsibility in a question he had asked, more in idle desire to make talk than for any other reason. "Yes," she replied suddenly, as her head was lifted; "yes, I'd give him every chance." Just then, in one of those marvellous flashes of regained consciousness, the man upon the bed opened his eyes and looked, first at Travers, then at Priscilla. Again his gaze shifted, gaining strength and meaning. From the far place where he had fared for days his mind, lighted by reason, was abnormally clear and almost painfully reinforced by memory. Then he laughed—laughed a long, shuddering laugh that drew the thin lips back from the white, fang-like teeth. Before the sound was finished the light faded from the black eyes and the grim silence shut in close upon the last quivering note. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/gs04.jpg" alt=""/></div> <h3>[Illustration:"In one of those marvellous flashes of regained consciousness, the man upon the bed opened his eyes and looked, first at Travers, then at Priscilla"]</h3> "We'll take the chance," said Travers. And late that very afternoon they took it. A week later Priscilla sat beside the man's bed, her right hand upon his pulse, her watch in her left. So intent was she upon the weak movement under her slim fingers that she had forgotten all else until a voice from a far, far distance seemingly, whispered hoarsely: "So—so this is—you? I'm not dreaming? I wasn't dreaming before when—when he and you came?" They had all been expecting this. The operation had been very successful, though it was not to give the patient back to life. They all knew that, too. "Yes, Jerry-Jo, it's I." There was no tremor in the low voice, only a determination to keep the world from knowing. Jerry-Jo was past hurting any one. "The—lure got you, too?" "Yes, the lure got me." "I knew you that night in the dark—that night in the park—you ran from me. I was lost and—and starving!" "I came back, Jerry-Jo. I did indeed." "Have I been here—long?" "Not very. Do not talk any more. You must rest. There is to-morrow, you know." The poor fellow was too weak to laugh, but the long teeth showed for a moment. "I must talk. Listen! Do they know here—about me? know my name?" "No." "Don't tell them. Don't tell any one. I have done something for you! They think, back there in Kenmore, that you are with me. I've written that—and schoolmaster hasn't let on. I haven't gone to the Hornbys here, because I stood by you. No one must know. See?" "Yes, Jerry-Jo, I see. Please lie still now. It shall be as you wish. You have been—very good—for my sake!" "I've starved and slept in dark holes—for you, and now you and him—have got to take care of me—or—I'll tell! I'll tell, as sure as God hears me!" "We will take care of you, Jerry-Jo. There! there! I promise; and you know we of the In-Place stand by each other." He was comforted at last, and fell into the deep sleep of exhaustion. Occasionally, in the days following, he opened his tired eyes and gave evidence of consciousness. He was drifting out calmly and painlessly, and all the coarseness and degeneracy of the half-breed seemed dropping by the way. Sometimes his glance rested on Doctor Travers's face, for the young physician was deeply interested in the case and was touched by the lonely, unclaimed fellow who had served science, but could derive no benefit in return. Often Jerry-Jo's dark eyes fell upon the pitying face of Priscilla Glenn with ever-growing understanding and kindliness. Sometimes in the long nights he clung to her like a child, for she was very good to him; very, very devoted. One night, when all the world seemed sleeping, he whispered to her: "You—you don't know, really?" Priscilla thought he was wandering, and said gently: "No, Jerry-Jo, really I do not know." "What will you give me—if I tell you the biggest secret in the world?" She had his head in the hollow of her arm; he was resting more calmly so. He had been feverish all day. "What—can I give you, Jerry-Jo?" The old, pleading look was in the dark eyes, but low passion had vanished forever. "Could you—would you give me a kiss for the secret?" "Yes, Jerry-Jo," and the kiss fell upon the white brow. Could John Boswell have been there then he would have understood. "You—you are crying! I feel a tear with the kiss!" The quivering, broken smile smote Priscilla to the heart. The ward was deathly quiet; only the deep breathing of men closer to life than Jerry-Jo McAlpin broke the stillness. "Why—do you cry?" "You know, it's a bad habit of mine, Jerry-Jo." "Yes. You—you cried on his book, you remember?" "I remember." "Do—you know where he is—now?" "No. Do you?" The head upon the strong, young arm moved restlessly. "Yes—I know—and I'm—going to tell you! It's the biggest joke I ever knew. Just to think—that you don't know, and he doesn't know, and—and I do!" A rattling, husky laugh shook the thin form dangerously. Every instinct of the nurse rose in alarm and defence. "You must not talk any more, Jerry-Jo. Lie still. Come, let us think of the In-Place." Priscilla slipped her arm from under the dark head, and took the wandering hands in hers. Her random words had power to hold and chain the weak mind. "I'm going to tell you—where he is—but we'll go back to the In-Place. I want to tell you there, and—he'll come and find you. I'd like to do you both a good turn—for what you've done for me." Then, after a pause and a gasping breath: "It's growing dark, but there's Dreamer's Rock and Bleak Head!" "And, Jerry-Jo," whispered Priscilla, "there's Lone Tree Island, don't you see? Your boat is coming around into the Channel. Please tell me—where he is, Jerry-Jo——" Priscilla realized he was going fast, and the secret suddenly gripped her with strange power. She must have it; she must know! "Please, Jerry-Jo, tell me where he is. I have wanted so to know! Listen! Can you not hear—the dear old sounds, the pattering of the soft little waves that the ice has let go free? There's the farm, the woods——" But Jerry-Jo was struggling to rise; his black eyes wide and straining, his thin arms outstretched. "No!" he moaned hoarsely, and already he seemed far away. "I can't make the Channel. I'm headed for the Secret Portage and the Big Bay." "Jerry-Jo! oh! tell me, where is he? Where is he?" But Priscilla knew it was too late. She bent and listened at the still breast that was holding the secret close from her. Then, with a sense of having been baffled, defeated, and cruelly cheated, she dropped her wet face in her hands for a moment before she went to do her last duty for Jerry-Jo. <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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