“I should have done so, of course,” was the reply. “But I kept hoping that Richard would recover, and for his sake I wanted to keep the matter secret from everybody who knew him, even from you. I knew it would be a mortifying memory for him all through his life to have it known that he had been insane. Any man would feel that way, and Richard is very sensitive. If he had recovered, I would never have divulged the secret, and I would have put Ruth, too, under a pledge of silence.”
“I understand, and it does you credit,” said the captain.
“Finally,” went on Mrs. Sturdy, “we reached this city, and I got Richard on shore and under the care of a physician. But nothing could be done, the doctor said, except to keep him as quiet and composed as possible and depend upon the healing hand of Time to set his poor mind aright. Physically, he was in good condition, for the sea voyage had been beneficial.
“But instead of getting better mentally, he steadily grew more irrational. The very fact that he was now in Egypt, the atmosphere, the language, the heat, the sights, the sounds, emphasized his delusion. Night and day he kept dwelling on the Valley of the Kings. He would declare that he was the king of the Valley of the Kings, and that he must go and look after his kingdom. And one day he eluded me and disappeared. No one had seen him go. No one knew where he had gone. It was then that I cabled to you. And now you are here, and, oh, how thankful I am!”
Once more she broke into a storm of weeping, for the strain of the narration and the picture it had brought up before her were too much for her overtaxed strength.
The others soothed and comforted her to the extent of their power.
“You’ve been just wonderful,” declared Don, as he hugged her to him.
“A perfect heroine,” asserted her brother. “Not one woman in a thousand could have stood up under such a strain.”
“I’m mighty proud of you, Alice,” said the captain, his voice husky with emotion. “But now all the work and responsibility are going to be taken off your overburdened shoulders. It’s up to us now. You must just rest and relax, or you, too, will break down completely. And, please God, we’ll bring Richard back to you, and with care and the greatest skill that we can command, it won’t be long before he’s his old splendid self again. Then this terrible thing will be nothing more to you than a dreadful dream.”
Under their thoughtful ministrations and the delight and reassurance that their presence gave her, Mrs. Sturdy gradually recovered her composure. They refused to let her talk any longer just then about her husband’s disappearance, and chatted with her about Hillville and Ruth and the other members of the household, Don bringing a smile from her at Jennie’s remark about her mistress being all alone in “the land of the Pigamids and the Spinach.”