As when, on the aching head of a fevered invalid buzzing with a thousand delirious fancies, a cool soft hand is laid, banishing uneasy nightmares, and bringing back the patient to waking common sense, even so the innocent friendliness of Mary's glance dissipated the whole swarm of crazy suspicions for the moment, and brought Ebenezer's thoughts back to their wonted wholesome tenor; and though the little thing crowed in its nurse's arms more than once, he forgot about its being perhaps an imp, or at any rate something unholy, and would even have admitted in words that it was a 'bonny bairn,' but that Peter Malloch sat at his elbow.
The minister had been looking to see some of his elders all the afternoon, and in the end had jotted down on paper his desire that Mr. Sangster, Mr. Prittie, and another of the elders should each give a prayer, and that Ebenezer should read to the people a chapter of the Saints' Rest, as a substitute for the usual sermon, and call a meeting of the Session and Deacons' Court for Monday evening. There was no business therefore to transact, Joseph was despatched to Auchlippie with the message for Mr. Sangster, and the others withdrew.
Ebenezer felt relieved when he was once more in the open air and there was no further possibility of an interview with the minister, for he had thought it would be but right, and accordingly had screwed up his courage to say a word in season if the opportunity should occur. At the same time he was full of dread as to how it would be taken; indeed he could conceive of no possible way in which it could be taken that would not be unpleasant, and therefore he felt positively rejoiced when the danger was past. Nothing disagreeable had happened, and yet he could stand up boldly before his conscience, as one who had not shirked a duty however painful; and when, in the privacy of his home, he went over the events of the day, he was indeed a proud man under the praises which that incarnate conscience, the wife of his bosom, bestowed upon her steadfast and faithful Ebenezer.
CHAPTER XX.
[IN A SICK ROOM].
When Roderick had written his letter he fell into a long and deep sleep, and it was daylight before he awoke. He was calmer in mind than he had been since he was taken ill, but it was the stillness of exhaustion. His fevered thoughts had been labouring up and down a never-ending gamut of feeling, like a prisoner tramping hopelessly up a revolving wheel, ever the same mountain of misery and despair rising before him, toil to surmount it as he might. He had climbed and climbed unceasingly--purposeless and hopeless, unable to stop, till at length, worn out, he had, as it were, fallen back in complete prostration. His waking was like that of one who has fallen from a height--stunned, the returning of far-ebbed consciousness was slow, and he would, if he could, have pushed it back again, and returned to oblivion.
He closed his eyes and turned from the light, courting the retreating footsteps of beneficent sleep, but that gentle healer refused to be detained, and he was awake. By-and-by he saw his letter carried away to its address, and he set himself to wait patiently for the return of his messenger, some time in the afternoon.
The rheumatic symptoms which had added greatly to his unrest, the day before, were abated, and his medical adviser expressed strong hope of being able to remove them altogether; but the distress in his chest had increased, his breathing was laboured and painful, threatening to develop into a serious attack.
The surgeon looked round the room, it was not a promising sick-room for an affection of the lungs. The walls, where they could be seen behind the book shelves, were stained with moisture; there was the cold earthen floor beneath the carpet, and a pervading flavour of mouldy dampness through the room, which seemed to grow only more perceptible when more fuel was piled on the hearth. When the weather was dry the windows could be opened, and with the help of a bright fire, a moderately sweet atmosphere could be obtained after a time; but whenever rain without necessitated the closing of the windows, the stuffy savour of mouldiness again took possession of the place.
Roderick lay and waited. He tried to read, but his eyes soon grew weary, and his thoughts would not fix themselves on the page, though he tried one book after another. It pained his chest to converse, and he could only possess his soul in patience, and wait Joseph's return.