I was accustomed to the vagaries of delirious patients and tried to soothe him with the assurance that the eye should be removed, but it was not in my power to do it. He saw it in the dark quite as well as in the light, and would cover his face with his hands to shut it from his sight.
“Whose eye is it?” I asked him, and he answered:
“Why, hers. It is big and blue with heavy brows and lashes, and mocks and laughs at me for the fool that I was; but I know better now. It was flesh and blood I saw and not a phantom. I don’t see why her eye is haunting me unless it is because I broke the glass. I am glad I did.”
I had no idea what he meant. Mr. McPherson had said something about an eye and a glass being broken, when he came to Mrs. Parks’, but in our excitement we had not asked him what he meant, and when I did so now he answered evasively, having thought it better not to betray Rex’s weakness in looking in the well. All that night I sat up with my patient, whose fever increased steadily, but whose mind seemed clearer toward morning. He knew me and why I was there and that he had the fever which he said must have been coming on for days, but he still complained of the hornets, and the eye constantly floating in the air before him. The weather had changed and it was cooler, which was a great help; and I had gotten him into a quiet state and was sitting in the hall outside his room, when there was the rustle of skirts on the stairs. Some one was coming up rapidly and to my surprise Rena appeared, her face flushed and a look of determination in her eyes which I could not understand.
“Miss Rena!” I exclaimed. “I did not know you were here. How did you come?”
“I walked,” she said. “I could not wait another minute. I should have gone crazy if I had. I never slept a wink all night thinking what if he should die before I told him, and I’ve come to do it. I thought once I’d wait for Tom to help me, but I can’t. Please let me see him. Nixon, who passed the house, told me he was rational this morning and so I came at once.”
I had no idea what she meant. One thing, however, was plain. Rex must not be excited and I told her so, but it made no difference. She was determined.
“I must see him. I will not excite him,” she said. “I have more power than you suppose. I’ll hold his hands in mine and he’ll be quiet. You’ll see. Is this his room?”
She was in it before I could stop her, and Rex, who heard her voice, welcomed her with a glad smile and put up his hand which she took in one of hers, while the other she laid upon his forehead.
“Oh,” he said, in a tone of relief. “That is good. It stops the hornets and frightens the eye. I don’t see it now, with you looking at me. Sit down. I like to have you here. Why didn’t you come before?”