登陆注册
5426200000192

第192章 CHAPTER THE FORTY-FIFTH. THE FOOT-RACE.(6)

"Sure?"

"No."

He looked round him again. This time his eyes rested on the trainer. Perry came forward.

"What can I do for you, Sir?"

The reply came slowly as before. "My--coat--pocket."

"This one, Sir?"

"No."

"This?"

"Yes. Book."

The trainer felt in the pocket, and produced a betting-book.

"What's to be done with this. Sir?"

"Read."

The trainer held the book before him; open at the last two pages on which entries had been made. He rolled his head impatiently from side to side of the sofa pillow. It was plain that he was not yet sufficiently recovered to be able to read what he had written.

"Shall I read for you, Sir?"

"Yes."

The trainer read three entries, one after another, without result; they had all been honestly settled. At the fourth the prostrate man said, "Stop!" This was the first of the entries which still depended on a future event. It recorded the wager laid at Windygates, when Geoffrey had backed himself (in defiance of the surgeon's opinion) to row in the University boat-race next spring--and had forced Arnold Brinkworth to bet against him.

"Well, Sir? What's to be done about this?"

He collected his strength for the effort; and answered by a word at a time.

"Write--brother--Julius. Pay--Arnold--wins."

His lifted hand, solemnly emphasizing what he said, dropped at his side. He closed his eyes; and fell into a heavy stertorous sleep. Give him his due. Scoundrel as he was, give him his due.

The awful moment, when his life was trembling in the balance, found him true to the last living faith left among the men of his tribe and time--the faith of the betting-book.

Sir Patrick and Mr. Speedwell quitted the race-ground together;

Geoffrey having been previously removed to his lodgings hard by.

They met Arnold Brinkworth at the gate. He had, by his own desire, kept out of view among the crowd; and he decided on walking back by himself. The separation from Blanche had changed him in all his habits. He asked but two favors during the interval which was to elapse before he saw his wife again--to be allowed to bear it in his own way, and to be left alone.

Relieved of the oppression which had kept him silent while the race was in progress, Sir Patrick put a question to the surgeon as they drove home, which had been in his mind from the moment when Geoffrey had lost the day.

"I hardly understand the anxiety you showed about Delamayn," he said, "when you found that he had only fainted under the fatigue.

Was it something more than a common fainting fit?"

"It is useless to conceal it now," replied Mr. Speedwell. "He has had a narrow escape from a paralytic stroke."

"Was that what you dreaded when you spoke to him at Windygates?"

"That was what I saw in his face when I gave him the warning. I was right, so far. I was wrong in my estimate of the reserve of vital power left in him. When he dropped on the race-course, I firmly believed we should find him a dead man."

"Is it hereditary paralysis? His father's last illness was of that sort."

Mr. Speedwell smiled. "Hereditary paralysis?" he repeated. "Why the man is (naturally) a phenomenon of health and strength--in the prime of his life. Hereditary paralysis might have found him out thirty years hence. His rowing and his running, for the last four years, are alone answerable for what has happened to-day."

Sir Patrick ventured on a suggestion.

"Surely," he said, "with your name to compel attention to it, you ought to make this public--as a warning to others?"

"It would be quite useless. Delamayn is far from being the first man who has dropped at foot-racing, under the cruel stress laid on the vital organs. The public have a happy knack of forgetting these accidents. They would be quite satisfied when they found the other man (who happens to have got through it) produced as a sufficient answer to me."

Anne Silvester's future was still dwelling on Sir Patrick's mind.

His next inquiry related to the serious subject of Geoffrey's prospect of recovery in the time to come.

"He will never recover," said Mr. Speedwell. "Paralysis is hanging over him. How long he may live it is impossible for me to say. Much depends on himself. In his condition, any new imprudence, any violent emotion, may kill him at a moment's notice."

"If no accident happens," said Sir Patrick, "will he be sufficiently himself again to leave his bed and go out?"

"Certainly."

"He has an appointment that I know of for Saturday next. Is it likely that he will be able to keep it?"

"Quite likely."

Sir Patrick said no more. Anne's face was before him again at the memorable moment when he had told her that she was Geoffrey's wife.

同类推荐
  • Ragged Lady

    Ragged Lady

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 关中创立戒坛图经(并序)

    关中创立戒坛图经(并序)

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清司命茅真君修行指迷诀

    上清司命茅真君修行指迷诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 钱氏私志

    钱氏私志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 醉花窗医案

    醉花窗医案

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 电影世界的无限战争

    电影世界的无限战争

    得到穿越系统莉莉丝后,叶千狐正式开始了自己的穿越生涯。穿行在电影世界,搜刮科技,夺取宝物,逍遥自在!!!(ps:以好莱坞电影为主,也许可能大概会写国产电影,吧?)
  • 我和裴少闪婚了

    我和裴少闪婚了

    名义上的母亲竟然要把她嫁给一个老头当填房!宋唯一怒了,一不作二不休,找了一个穷男人嫁了。
  • 当阳光变冷

    当阳光变冷

    镕畅,女,1979年出生。2002年开始写作。小说发表于《黄河》、《厦门文学》、《都市文学》、《山西文学》、《南方》等刊物,作品曾入选《小说选刊》、《北京文学·中篇小说月报》、《小说精选》等。长篇小说《花影》由深圳海天出版社出版。大雨,裹挟着一些微小的砂粒,落进城市的眼里,把白天冰冷的建筑物和高楼大厦弄得泪眼迷离。不一会儿的功夫,马路上行人渐无,只听见一声紧似一声的雨点击打着路面,深入浅出地在夜幕中宣泄着私愤。很多店铺提早关门,卷闸门拉下冰冷的面孔。一只迷路的鸟,盘旋在马路的上空,在人来车往中,凄厉地找寻着日光留下的残美。
  • 穿梭诸天万界做任务

    穿梭诸天万界做任务

    从地球穿越而来的杀手兼肥宅雨沐晨穿越万界最后成为了武林至尊
  • 礼法华经仪式

    礼法华经仪式

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 次元绮想曲

    次元绮想曲

    "随心所欲的去穿越吧少年!“某银发女子这么对着一脸懵逼的少年说道。就这样,尘羽开始了自己的二次元单机穿越故事~嗯,无雷无郁闷。
  • 庶子权臣

    庶子权臣

    一朝穿越,华夏杀手之王司徒旭成为大齐王朝镇远侯府的庶子,生母柔弱无心机,父亲糊涂耳根软,主母为子不归家,姨娘心肠歹毒又狠辣,好吧,为了生存,咱装次纨绔。
  • 百分宠婚

    百分宠婚

    【这是一本慢热文…】十八年的人生,忽然有人告诉她说,“路乔恩,其实你不是路家的亲生女儿,他们的亲生女儿,是我…”一夜间,她变的一无所有,这十八年,让她成为了一个别人口中偷东西的贼,而且她偷的不是其他东西,而是别人的人生。其实,她谁都可以不在乎,但是他呢?路北城,他是不是也这样认为的?
  • 嫡女医后

    嫡女医后

    现代卧底小警察魂穿异世,明面上是人人唾弃的废物丑颜,实际上却是拥有天人容貌的逍遥神医。当被某只传说中不近女色的妖孽天天纠缠不放,她欲哭无泪:“尼玛,说好的演戏呢......”千年穿越,牵扯出一段离奇的身世;江山为聘,他只愿携她之手,笑看尘世繁华!【本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。】推荐小妖古言新书【大楚昭阳】,各位亲走过路过不要错过哈,欢迎入坑!!