“She said that there was ‘some one else,’ but that ‘he did not know.’ Some day his eyes will open, for God will not allow a steadfast heart like Brooke’s to be shut out of life.”
A struggle seemed to pass over Stead’s face that left a blueness about the lips and the eyes, that quivered and closed. Dr. Russell gave him a stimulant and waited in silence.
Presently the eyes opened and he spoke deliberately, as one reciting a hard lesson. “Then let me leave all in trust to you for the man Brooke Lawton marries, not to be known or given until their wedding day, when you must tell him all, and if he is struggling with life,—as I have a feeling that he is, for nothing else could keep him from such a woman,—for her sake he will take the gift as from man to man.”
“And if the day does not come, or he refuses?” asked Dr. Russell, joy at the man’s final unselfishness beaming from his face.
“After ten years, then let it become a part of the endowment of your hospital, in memory of the two Helens, my daughter and her mother.”
Thus the will was made with due regard to formality, making the doctor holder of a trust, the details of which were contained in sealed instructions to keep privacy; a certain sum being set aside to furnish the faithful José with an annuity; Stead’s lodge, guns, fishing rods, books, and furniture to Dr. Russell for his convenience as a shooting-box; his saddle-horse to Adam; and his pictures and his two dogs to Brooke herself, for these last were really the possessions he most prized. Then Dr. Love and Hannah Morley signed as witnesses, they having, as is needful, no part in the will.
For a short time Robert Stead seemed better, as if a load was lifted from his brain, but Dr. Russell was not deceived by it, while his heightening colour spoke of increasing fever.
About two o’clock Stead asked the time, and that he might be lifted up to see the river, that, far below in the distance, flashed by between the trees. But his sight no longer carried. Presently he said, “Do you think that Brooke would come here for one single moment?—would it be too hard for her to bear?”
“No; I have sent the horses for her, and she should be here at once. Yes, I see them now coming up the lower hill.”