I. A. R. Wylie

“ Sandys sank back, and when he spoke again his voice sounded as if it came from a long way off.
“Farnel, I want you to suppose something. Suppose you had a great pair of scales before you, and on one side hung your own happiness and the life of someone who was dearer to you than either life or happiness, and on the other side a thousand no, perhaps a million, suffering human creatures, and after them generations, whose suffering you could alleviate—suppose you had to choose, Farnel, either your ownself and that other, or the happiness and life of those millions, which would be your choice?” ”

“ The roof had given way, the whole bungalow lay a smouldering ruin. Death had snatched at his two victims but one instant too late.
“Give her air!” Farnel shouted. “Back, all of you!”
With more order than is usual on such occasions, the crowd obeyed his imperative command. Tenderly and with infinite care, Farnel laid his burden on the ground. No one ventured to approach—no one save one man. As they saw him there arose the sound of a faint, irrepressible hiss. Sandys staggered toward the prostrate form, and dropping on his knees drew back the blanket from the white, drawn face. ”

“ I tell you, Sandys, I would rather she had married any man than you. You aren’t fit to breathe the same air with her. A Farnel and you! Good heavens!”
Sandys turned away.
“You may be right,” he said. “I have no doubt you are, but that does not alter what I said. Enid is my wife and her honor is my honor. You will help me to protect it.”
“His honor!”
Farnel laughed furiously to himself as he strode out of the bungalow. He, had forgotten Enid, forgotten everything, save his own resentment and contempt.
Her voice calling from the veranda brought him to a standstill. ”

“ Sandys raised himself feebly on his elbow.
“Yes, I am ill,” he said. “As things stand I am dying. Whether I shall die or not remains to be seen. I called you for two reasons: First, because my wife must not see me; second, because I believe you to be a most brave, honorable man, and I have a question to put to you which only a brave, honorable man can answer. Will you try?”
Farnel held himself stiff and uncompromising, but a curious uneasiness was creeping over him. ”

“ According to his principles a coward was beyond the scope of mercy or consideration.
“He has refused to help against the plague,” he said in a loud, high voice as if he wished Sandys to hear. “And I told him to his face what I thought of him. Then he ordered me out of the house on some trivial, trumpery excuse.”
She did not seem to hear the last sentence. She had dropped back a step and a gray shadow crept over her features. The eyes that searched Farnel’s face were full of shrinking, terrible fear. But this fear he understood. ”

“ Humphrey Sandys had proved himself more despicable than the dust under his feet, and so, like dust, Farnel was striving to sweep him out of Enid’s life and out of his own way.
“You can’t help facing the truth now, Enid,” he said, pacing restlessly up and down the sitting-room of the hired bungalow, “and when you have faced it, what I have prophesied to you is inevitable. You cannot live any longer with him.”
She buried her face in her hands and he proceeded with the energy and conviction of one sure of success.
“Another woman might go on with the old life, but you could not. ”

“ You are a Farnel. The Farnels have all been brought up to despise cowards. And the woman who lives with the husband she despises is a coward.”
She rose with a gesture of despair.
“You are right,” she said, “I cannot go on like this. I could not bear it. You see, I loved him very dearly, and what makes it worse—I love him now.”
“No,” he said, “you mean—you loved m foolishly and blindly. You didn’t know what he was. Now you know, Enid, is it too late? Can’t we put right at last in awful mistake—or must it be a fatal one, ruining both our lives? ”

“ Oh, Humphrey!”—unconsciously her tone softened and grew full of pleading—“it isn’t true, is it? You are going to help those poor creatures. Think, there may be hundreds of them—thousands before long. You will go—you are not—afraid?”
“No, Enid, I am not going,” he said quietly, but she saw that his hand shook with nervous agitation.
“Why not?” she asked, still pleading. “Is it for my sake? If so, don’t think of me. I am only one and out there there are hundreds to whom you owe your first and best strength. ”

“ His manner became graver.
“Look here, Enid,” he said, “you're a Farnel and the only thing a Farnel ought to be afraid of is Fear. You ought to be thankful, and so ought Humphrey, that he is given a chance to show what he is made of. This epidemic is for a doctor what a battle is for us—a test of his mettle.” ”

“ All my life I have studied the disease, seeking a definite cure and preventative. A week ago I believed myself at last on the point of success. It was the same day you came and asked for help. I refused, because the good I could have done then was nothing in comparison to what I knew I should be able to do a few days later when my discovery was complete. My life was no longer my own to throw away. It belonged to those millions whose fate lay in my hands.”
“Why did you not explain, man!” Farnel cried passionately. ”

“ Whole families are lying at the door of death—the accursed plague is spreading and they say—”
“What do they say? Out with it!”
“They say it is because the White Doctor would not lift his hand to help them.”
Humphrey laughed through his set teeth, but made no reply.
When they reached the front they found that a crowd had already assembled and. were watching the increasing conflagration in helpless alarm. Sandys’ appearance was greeted by the whites with polite exclamation of relief, and by the natives with growls which might have indicated either surprise or disappointment. ”

“ The darkness crept in through the open window and minute by minute another darkness even more impenetrable was lifting itself between them, an intangible barrier, hiding each from the other’s true self. ”

“ In an instant he had crossed the room, and wrenching the door open confronted the dark, terrified face of his native servant. The corridor behind him was one thick suffocating cloud.
“Fly, Master!” the man cried despairingly. “The place burns!”
Humphrey seized him by the shoulder and, dragging him into the room, slammed the door against the inrushing volumes of smoke. ”

“ Perhaps the time had come when he would throw off the desultory, useless dabbling in his laboratory and prove himself a man of energy, courage, and determination. An old hope revived with a new strength. ”

“ You know, we Farnels have all been soldiers’ wives and often had to give up our husbands to their profession. Sometimes we have even had to give up our own lives. We have tried to be brave. neither crying nor lamenting. ”