"Yes," acknowledged Ronald.
"You didn't tell me that, you know. Were you engaged to her?"
"No."
"Well, your being here has become, for some reason, very important in the old t'ai-t'ai's eyes. Perhaps you can untangle it."
Ronald thought he could, though he did not trouble the doctor with his reasons, for the latter was ready for bed and said frankly that daylight solved more puzzles than lamplight. The t'ai-t'ai had made a curious remark about the sun. This gave the lover his cue; he lay awake nearly till daybreak going back and forth over scenes of the past: the importance Herrick ascribed to the scrolls he had written; Nancy's surprise when she saw them; the indication that the t'ai-t'ai knew of them. The sentences danced in his brain till he became afraid of them. Herrick must have trafficked with black art when he wrote those lines. They were always promising him Nancy, always withholding her.
At times he felt like copying the passive manners of the East and sitting, hands in lap, waiting for the prophecy, if prophecy it were, to fulfill itself, but his restless Western blood would not keep him still. The excitement of having Nancy so near, of almost having been given her by the unlooked-for command of the t'ai-t'ai, this was too urgent for sleep. Perhaps the old woman would die to-day, and Nancy would come. His fingers ached to pull away the curtain of these next few hours. He dared not hope too much. If that evil family hid her away again, he was ready to drag down their sagging house round their ears.
Hour after hour struck from the clock beneath his bedroom. He wondered whether Nancy were standing vigil over the dying woman whom he envied because she loved. If only he could keep vigil with her!
CHAPTER XXXIV
The strokes of the clock came too quickly for Ronald. They woke him each time just when he was drowsy, telling him that it was two, three, four, and he was not yet asleep. The clock struck more slowly for Nancy. She sat alone in the sick room; she was absolute mistress here; the orders of the doctor, the t'ai-t'ai's imperious will, which was as strong as ever in its effect upon the family, supported the girl in her right to keep the room clear.