Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2060 page)

She has
found
her senses! She has mastered her master at last. There is a danger you never bargained for in trampling down to your level a woman like me. She sees you with
your
eyes — she judges you with
your
cunning — and she ends in knowing you for what you are! From first to last I have been a means of getting money, moved by your merciless hands. My life has been wasted — my heart has been turned to stone — my tongue has been taught to lie — I have loved and hoped — - I have sinned and suffered — to put money in
your
pocket. Are you to profit by the loss of everything that made love noble and life dear to me? And am I to be flung off like the glove that you have worn out? I stand here, in the horror of my degradation with nothing to hope and nothing to fear more; and I tell you to your face, if you are to have the widow’s income, as true as there is a heaven above us you shall earn it first!

DR. D.

One word, before your frenzy carries you farther!

MISS G.

My frenzy! Who fed my frenzy? You! What did you say to me before my husband came in? “If you own Midwinter now, you submit to be treated by him like the most abandoned woman living. Thanks to Armadale — remember that!” Those were your own words.

DR. D.

Let me speak! I have seen Armadale since. Believe me, I was mistaken, and you were mistaken.

MISS G.

Believe you? He is one incarnate lie from head to foot, and he asks me to believe him! Who divided my husband’s love with me, when I
had
a husband? Armadale! Who suspected my past life, and talked of secrets and mysteries before me in my husband’s presence? Armadale! Who hired Manuel, and brought him into the house? Who took my husband away to sea, and told him my miserable secret? Armadale! The rapture of being revenged on him leaps through me like fire! His life! his life! Give me Armadale’s life, and hang me before all London to-morrow!.

DR. D.

You will rouse the house! On my knees — on my knees — I entreat you to be quiet!

MISS G. (
looking down at him with a burst of triumph
).

Ah! you know your place at last! (
A knock is heard at the door.
)

DR. D. (
hastily seating himself
).

Who’s there?

A VOICE OUTSIDE.

Francis, sir.

DR. D. (
to
MISS G.)

Compose yourself. It’s only the night attendant. (
Calling.
) Come in! (FRANCIS
enters.
) What do you want?

FRANCIS.

The head nurse sent me here, sir. The lady in room No. 10 is worse than ever. It’s asthma; and every breath she draws seems likely to be her last.

DR. D. (
impatiently
).

Tell the nurse to medicate the air in the room, and the patient’s asthma will be relieved. If she has not got the right mixture — (
he points to the pedestal
) — take off the flowers, and see if the bottle isn’t there.

(FRANCIS
puts the flowers on a side table, lifts the top of the pedestal, which opens back with a hinge, takes out a chemical bottle from the inside, and shows it to the
DOCTOR. MISS GWILT
watches
FRANCIS
with sudden curiosity from the moment when he lifts the cover of the pedestal.
)

FRANCIS

Right, sir?

DR. D. (
impatiently
).

Quite right.

(FRANCIS
goes out.
MISS GWILT
approaches the mock pedestal and looks in.

MISS G.

Why is you apparatus hidden in this thing?

DR. D. (
more and more irritably
).

My apparatus is a common earthenware jar. I can’t have such a thing seen in a drawing-room. The pedestal is ornamental, and I put the jar in the pedestal.

MISS G.

Why is the pedestal outside the bedroom instead of in?

DR. D. (
always answering irritably until he discovers the real object of
MISS G.’S
questions.
)

What do these idle questions mean?

MISS G.

More than you suppose. Answer me.

DR. D.

I have nervous, unreasonable people to deal with. If they saw the Vaporizer being charged they might fancy I was suffocating them.

MISS G. (
thoughtfully
).

Suffocating them? Go on.

DR. D.

Go on? Were we talking of these trifling things when Francis came in?

MISS G.

My questions have a motive. (
Placing her hand on the pedestal.
) The vapour is made here? What next?

DR. D.

The vapour, as you call it, is conveyed to the patient inside by means of a pipe in the wall.

MISS G.

A patient suffering from asthma?

DR. D.

From asthma, from consumption, from other diseases which can be reached by the lungs. The relief in some cases, the cure in others, is obtained by different ways of medicating the air in the room. Are you satisfied now?

MISS G.

I have a last question to ask. You put this Vaporizer to a use that cures. Could you put it to a use that kills?

DR. D. (
starting to his feet
).

What!!!

MISS G.

Could you poison the air in that room?

DR. D. (
controlling himself
).

Chemistry can poison anything. (
Aside, walking away from
MISS G.). Amazing that I should never have thought of it myself!

MISS G. (
standing by the pedestal
).

Dr. Downward!

DR. D. (
pursuing his reflections
).

My knowledge labours, and sees nothing but the difficulty and the risk; her ignorance guesses, and hits the mark!

MISS G.

Dr. Downward! (DR. D.
turns to her.
) See if Armadale is still in the garden.

(DR. D.
goes to the window, raises it softly, and looks out. While he is thus occupied
MISS G.
hurriedly writes a few lines at the side table, folds and directs the note. The
DOCTOR
returns.
)

DR. D.

Armadale is walking up and down, smoking his cigar. (MISS G.
rings the bell at the side of the drawing-room fireplace.
) What are you ringing for?

MISS G.

I am ringing for Francis.

DR. D.

Why?

MISS G.

When Francis comes in, one of us must give him an order. Either
you
send him for what chemistry wants to poison the air in that room, or
I
send him with this note to Armadale in the garden. (
She shows him what she has written. A knock is heard at the door.
) Shall I speak, or will you?

DR. D. (
resuming his usual smooth manner
).

I wouldn’t give you the trouble of speaking for the world! Come in.

(FRANCIS
enters.
)

FRANCIS.

Did you ring, Sir?

DR. D.

Yes. (
Gives him a key.
) Go into the dispensary, and open the third cupboard from the door. You will find a leather bag in it, and a small mahogany chest. Bring me the bag and the chest, and at the same time let me have a bottle of water.

(FRANCIS
goes out.
)

MISS G. (
lighting her note at the lamp, and throwing it into the fireplace
).

You see?

DR. D.

A thousand thanks! I see!

(
A momentary pause.
MISS G.
seats herself with her back to the
DOCTOR,
and speaks aside.
)

MISS G.

The silence maddens me! I must speak — even to
him.
(
To
DR. D.,
without looking at him.
) Is it a fine night?

DR. D. (
answering, without looking at
MISS G.).

There isn’t a cloud in the sky anywhere.

MISS G. (
looking round impatiently towards the door
).

How long the man is!

DR. D. (
looking round also
).

Francis is slower than ever to-night.

MISS G. (
to
DR. D.)

You are very quiet here.

DR. D.

We are very quiet here.

MISS G.

Are they building in the neighbourhood?

DR. D.

Yes, but not within our hearing.

MISS G.

In a few years more Hendon will be a suburb of London.

DR. D.

I suppose so.

(
Enter
FRANCIS
with the chest. He is followed by a man servant with the bag and the bottle of water, who waits at the door until
FRANCIS
has relieved him of what he carries.
FRANCIS
places the things on the table.
)

FRANCIS.

Will that do, sir?

DR. D.

That will do. (FRANCIS
goes out. The
DOCTOR
addresses
MISS G.) You insist?

MISS G. (
rising
).

I insist.

DR. D.

Be so obliging as to hold something for me. (
Taking the bag in one hand, he puts the other into the hollow of the pedestal, produces a large circular cork with a hole in the centre, and a glass funnel, and gives them to
MISS G.
to hold.
)

DR. D.

The cork stops the mouth of the jar inside. The funnel receives the liquid to be poured in, without troubling to remove the jar.

(
He empties the contents of the bag into the jar. The contents are heard to drop, as if many particles of stone were falling on earthenware. The
DOCTOR
next takes the bottle of water, and empties it into the jar. He then replaces the cork and funnel, bowing with scrupulous politeness as he takes them from
MISS G.)