L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace

“ Hertslet entered the room.
“Now, nurse,” he said, “I am ready to attend to you—you want to see Miss Trefusis, and you speak of news: what do you mean?”
“I have made a very extraordinary discovery,” I said.
He gave me a steady look, then said, in that voice which always compelled both my fear and respect:—
“You are an excellent nurse, but it is a pity you are so excitable. Excitement is bad for a woman in your profession. What possible discovery can you have made in this house which can bring that tremble to your voice? ”

“ I was extremely fond of anatomy, and I liked to listen to his explanations, to see his diagrams, to learn something of the wonderful mechanism of that most marvellous thing on earth, the human brain. I respected Mr. Hertslet, but it is also true that I feared him. When he became engaged to Leonora I could not but own to a feeling of consternation. Once I ventured to speak to my patient on the subject.
“I am sorry you are going to marry him,” I said; “he is a hard man, and you are full of enthusiasm and fire. By-and-by he will crush your youth out of you.” ”

“ Why, nurse, what a queer expression you have in your face. You have got such strange eyes—I never before saw human eyes express so much. I do not believe you like this wedding. Well, Miss Trefusis is a beautiful young lady, but then Mr. Hertslet is so clever, the cleverest surgeon of his day. ”

“ THE terrible time is over, but the agony of the last two months must remain with me as long as I live. To-morrow the girl I love will be married. For her I have suffered and almost died. We love those for whom we suffer—it is the law of life.
I am a lady by birth and a nurse by profession. Early in the winter of last year I was sent for to attend a nerve case. My patient was a girl of the name of Leonora Trefusis. ”

“ Mr. Hertslet was in the room. A ward lamp stood on the dressing-table; the electric light was brightly on. The surgeon was bending over me. He was holding something to my mouth and nostrils, and in his other hand both of mine were clasped tightly. I made another futile effort to rise—the faint, sweet smell of chloroform was all too apparent. Each limb was weighted as if with lead. Hertslet’s cruel eyes w ere looking into mine.
“You are in my power,” he said. “I seal your lips.” ”

“ Hertslet came in. He looked eagerly around him. When he saw that Leonora was not present he raised his brows and came at once to my side.
“I want to say a word to you, Nurse Petre.” As he spoke he seated himself near me.
“I mean to trust you,” he said. “I have a very critical case in my private hospital just now. I want an excellent nurse, one who can be calm and firm, and who understands her work. The case is one of life or death. You will leave Miss Trefusis to-morrow and come to me.” ”

“ I shall gain fresh influence in my profession by the successful performance of so difficult an operation. Ambition and love run a neck-and-neck race with me. I do not intend to sacrifice either, but I have resolved to do this. The operation shall be postponed. I will give Captain Gifford excellent reasons for this. I shall keep him here, but I shall not operate until after my marriage. Now, do you understand? You can, if you so wish it, return to Leonora, and stay with her until her marriage, or—you can defy me. ”

“ You may by-and-by rise from your bed, but you cannot speak, nor can you control your brain sufficiently to write anything, even with your left hand. Thus you are as powerless to convey the information which you know to Leonora Trefusis as if you were dead. ”

“ The servant helped me to undress, and rang the bell for the other nurse. They soon got me into bed. In about a quarter of an hour Mr. Hertslet returned with another doctor. They both examined me carefully.
“There is no doubt what is the matter,” said the fresh doctor, turning to the surgeon: “Hemorrhage from the left middle cerebral, with hemiplegia and aphasia. Rather curious in so young a girl,” he continued. “I have only seen two or three cases at her age. One of your own nurses, too, you tell me. Very sad indeed. The mind is fully conscious, but all power of speech is lost. ”

“ He is aware that I do not love him. All the love I possess is given to the man who lies in his unknown grave. Mr. Hertslet understands that, if such an impossible thing should happen as that Dick Gifford should come back, I could not marry him. Dick will never come back, of course, and in all probability I shall be married to Mr. Hertslet in two months from now. You will stay with me until the wedding is over, will you not, nurse? ”

“ The name of Leonora’s old lover is Captain Gifford. He is upstairs—he is your patient. Go to Leonora, if you do not believe me, and ask her what the name of her old lover was. She will tell you Captain Gifford. If you do not still believe me, ask her to show you his photograph. The photograph is the photograph of the man upstairs. He is alive—he is your patient.”
“Take a chair,” said Mr. Hertslet. ”

“ For the first time since our engagement I alluded to the subject of her old lover—I talked of him gently. She wept. I kissed her and assured her of my sympathy. I asked his name and particulars about him. I have seen his photograph. You are right; my rival lives, he is upstairs. To-morrow I am expected to perform a most critical operation upon him. Think what you have put into my power. The operation is one of extreme difficulty. The slightest swerve of the knife means death. Don’t you see how madly you acted when you told me all this before the operation was over? ”

“ Hertslet believes that there is pressure on a certain portion of the brain. Since the time of my accident I have suffered from terrible epileptic fits. If nothing can be done to relieve me I shall soon be in a lunatic asylum, awful fate I prefer the chance which the surgeon’s knife offers. ”

“ Hertslet was a brain specialist, and it had been my lot to nurse some very complicated brain cases for him. No man in England had studied the anatomy of the brain more thoroughly. I am certain he knew the localization of every centre. All that modern science could tell him he had acquired. ”

“ Hertslet,” I said, “you must be prepared for a blow. Leonora’s old lover exists; he is alive. As from the gate of death he has returned, he is in this house—his name is Captain Gifford.”
The surgeon was standing before me ”

“ As he spoke he stood up.
“The case I want you to attend is a bad one, and I mean to trephine the day after to-morrow. If I am not successful, the victim will go mad; trephining is the one and only chance. You will come to my house to-morrow evening. The operation will take place on the following morning.”
[“NURSE, YOU ARE A STRANGE WOMAN.”]
“I told you that I was engaged to Leonora,” I said, angrily. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1943, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 80 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”