now, sir, I have a secret to confide to you," and with a blush she placed her lips to my ear, and shyly whispered to me of a coming event that makes the husband wish that he could peer for a moment into futurity and be reassured. This was on a Tuesday evening; on Thursday evening, the weather being fine, I determined to dispense with a rickshaw and walk down from the office. I abandoned my usual route along the Bund and Broadway and chose Szechuen Road, albeit a litttle longer.
As I neared the Soochow Creek a sudden, agonising pang shot through one of my teeth. It was one of those sudden twinges that make one catch one's breath, and it returned again and again with maddening persistency, until I felt half-wild with the pain. The tooth, too, was a sound one; at least, I had never noticed any cavity in it. I walked hurriedly down the street, trying in my haste to dull the pain; and, as I went, a brass plate, with a name and the words " Surgeon-dentist," on the opposite side of the street caught my eye.
Instantly the desire seized me to have the troublesome tooth out, decayed or not. Without a moment's hesitation, I crossed the road. I can remember experiencing no surprise at reading the name "A. Rawdon " on the plate as I passed in, though he had never before attended me in his professional capacity. It seemed quite natural, too, that the maddening ache should vanish as suddenly as it had come, as I crossed the threshold. Still, I walked on and pushed open the door of the surgery.
Arnold Rawdon was leaning over the back of his operating chair as I entered, his face white and drawn, as I had seen it on that first evening, but with a look of expectancy in his eyes that changed to triumph, as he saw me walk straight to the chair and sink into it.
" Ah, you have come! " he muttered. Then, in his more professional tones, " H'm, let me see!" pulling my mouth open and peering in with that brutal inquisitiveness that is the special privilege of dentists. " Yes, it will have to come out. Rather firm set, too! Will you have gas ? "
" I detest gas ! " I murmured feebly.
" I thought so!" with an odd smile playing about the corners of his mouth. " Well, we will try something else."
While he was still speaking I felt a change coming over myself; I felt that peculiar feeling of double consciousness that I was myself, yet not myself.
Rawdon meanwhile had turned to a cabinet on which stood a bottle and two glasses in readiness, and filled one of them nearly to the brim.
" Try this," he said, coming toward me. " I don't know if you are a connoisseur, but I think you will find this good stuff."
He had held the glass under my nose; it was brandy, neat brandy. I have been all my life a strict teetotaller, and the reeking odour of the spirits filled me with unutterable loathing and disgust. Nevertheless, I seized the glass eagerly, and, putting it to my lips, drained the contents at one long draught.
" So," Rawdon said mockingly, " that is better."
He turned casually away, taking up a paper and humming a light ditty to himself as he ran his eyes down the columns; and I sat there in the chair, perfectly rigid, unable to move a muscle, while every fibre of my being was crying out to me to get up and flee. My eyes were fixed on his form—he had his back partly towards me—as I strove to gather my strength for one supreme effort, only to find it futile. Again and again I thus attempted to rise, but always in vain.
After some time had elapsed he let fall the paper and turned again to the bottle on the cabinet, filling my glass this time half-full.
" Now," he cried, as he placed the glass in my hand, "we will have a toast. We will drink to dear Mrs. Keith."
He turned and poured out a few spoonfuls into the other glass.
" Look ! I, too, intend to honour the toast. Are you ready ? Well, then, ' To dear Mrs. Keith, and long may she be happy in her wedded life!'"
" ' To dear Mrs. Keith !'" I echoed obediently,
" ' and ' " The rest of the
As I neared the Soochow Creek a sudden, agonising pang shot through one of my teeth. It was one of those sudden twinges that make one catch one's breath, and it returned again and again with maddening persistency, until I felt half-wild with the pain. The tooth, too, was a sound one; at least, I had never noticed any cavity in it. I walked hurriedly down the street, trying in my haste to dull the pain; and, as I went, a brass plate, with a name and the words " Surgeon-dentist," on the opposite side of the street caught my eye.
Instantly the desire seized me to have the troublesome tooth out, decayed or not. Without a moment's hesitation, I crossed the road. I can remember experiencing no surprise at reading the name "A. Rawdon " on the plate as I passed in, though he had never before attended me in his professional capacity. It seemed quite natural, too, that the maddening ache should vanish as suddenly as it had come, as I crossed the threshold. Still, I walked on and pushed open the door of the surgery.
Arnold Rawdon was leaning over the back of his operating chair as I entered, his face white and drawn, as I had seen it on that first evening, but with a look of expectancy in his eyes that changed to triumph, as he saw me walk straight to the chair and sink into it.
" Ah, you have come! " he muttered. Then, in his more professional tones, " H'm, let me see!" pulling my mouth open and peering in with that brutal inquisitiveness that is the special privilege of dentists. " Yes, it will have to come out. Rather firm set, too! Will you have gas ? "
" I detest gas ! " I murmured feebly.
" I thought so!" with an odd smile playing about the corners of his mouth. " Well, we will try something else."
While he was still speaking I felt a change coming over myself; I felt that peculiar feeling of double consciousness that I was myself, yet not myself.
Rawdon meanwhile had turned to a cabinet on which stood a bottle and two glasses in readiness, and filled one of them nearly to the brim.
" Try this," he said, coming toward me. " I don't know if you are a connoisseur, but I think you will find this good stuff."
He had held the glass under my nose; it was brandy, neat brandy. I have been all my life a strict teetotaller, and the reeking odour of the spirits filled me with unutterable loathing and disgust. Nevertheless, I seized the glass eagerly, and, putting it to my lips, drained the contents at one long draught.
" So," Rawdon said mockingly, " that is better."
He turned casually away, taking up a paper and humming a light ditty to himself as he ran his eyes down the columns; and I sat there in the chair, perfectly rigid, unable to move a muscle, while every fibre of my being was crying out to me to get up and flee. My eyes were fixed on his form—he had his back partly towards me—as I strove to gather my strength for one supreme effort, only to find it futile. Again and again I thus attempted to rise, but always in vain.
After some time had elapsed he let fall the paper and turned again to the bottle on the cabinet, filling my glass this time half-full.
" Now," he cried, as he placed the glass in my hand, "we will have a toast. We will drink to dear Mrs. Keith."
He turned and poured out a few spoonfuls into the other glass.
" Look ! I, too, intend to honour the toast. Are you ready ? Well, then, ' To dear Mrs. Keith, and long may she be happy in her wedded life!'"
" ' To dear Mrs. Keith !'" I echoed obediently,
" ' and ' " The rest of the
Similar Books
