Three John Silence Stories eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 242 pages of information about Three John Silence Stories.

Three John Silence Stories eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 242 pages of information about Three John Silence Stories.

“Then you must find a way,” the doctor was saying with decision; “for I cannot insist too strongly upon that—­and at all costs she must be kept quiet.  These attempts to go out must be prevented—­if necessary, by force.  This desire to visit some wood or other she keeps talking about is, of course, hysterical in nature.  It cannot be permitted for a moment.”

“It shall not be permitted,” I heard the soldier reply, as they reached the hall below.

“It has impressed her mind for some reason—­” the doctor went on, by way evidently of soothing explanation, and then the distance made it impossible for me to hear more.

At dinner Dr. Silence was still absent, on the public plea of a headache, and though food was sent to his room, I am inclined to believe he did not touch it, but spent the entire time fasting.

We retired early, desiring that the household should do likewise, and I must confess that at ten o’clock when I bid my host a temporary good-night, and sought my room to make what mental preparation I could, I realised in no very pleasant fashion that it was a singular and formidable assignation, this midnight meeting in the laundry building, and that there were moments in every adventure of life when a wise man, and one who knew his own limitations, owed it to his dignity to withdraw discreetly.  And, but for the character of our leader, I probably should have then and there offered the best excuse I could think of, and have allowed myself quietly to fall asleep and wait for an exciting story in the morning of what had happened.  But with a man like John Silence, such a lapse was out of the question, and I sat before my fire counting the minutes and doing everything I could think of to fortify my resolution and fasten my will at the point where I could be reasonably sure that my self-control would hold against all attacks of men, devils, or elementals.

III

At a quarter before midnight, clad in a heavy ulster, and with slippered feet, I crept cautiously from my room and stole down the passage to the top of the stairs.  Outside the doctor’s door I waited a moment to listen.  All was still; the house in utter darkness; no gleam of light beneath any door; only, down the length of the corridor, from the direction of the sick-room, came faint sounds of laughter and incoherent talk that were not things to reassure a mind already half a-tremble, and I made haste to reach the hall and let myself out through the front door into the night.

The air was keen and frosty, perfumed with night smells, and exquisitely fresh; all the million candles of the sky were alight, and a faint breeze rose and fell with far-away sighings in the tops of the pine trees.  My blood leaped for a moment in the spaciousness of the night, for the splendid stars brought courage; but the next instant, as I turned the corner of the house, moving stealthily down the gravel drive, my

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Three John Silence Stories from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.