human
I assure you, on my word, said Dr. Rider, lifting his eyes as Vincent opened the door, and beckoning him softly to come in,
gpt
Mr. Vincent has something to tell you, said the quick little woman, impetuous even in her whisper, who was Dr. Rider's wife.
human
He must not come and talk here. He might wake her. Take him away. Edward, take them both away. Mrs. Vincent, you must go and hear what he has to say.
gpt
Oh, Arthur! my dear boy, cried his mother, looking up to him with moist eyes.
human
It is I who have something to tell. My child is perhaps to get well, Arthur. Oh! my own boy, after all, she is going to get better. We shall have Susan again. Hush! doctor, please let me go back again; something stirred-- I think something stirred; and perhaps she might want something, and the nurse would not observe. Tired?--no, no; I am not tired. I have always watched them when they were ill, all their lives. They never had any nurse in sickness but their mother. Arthur, you know I am not tired. Oh! doctor, perhaps you would order something while he is here, for my son; he has been agitated and anxious, and he is not so strong--not nearly so strong as I am; but, my dear, said the widow, looking up in her son's face with a wistful eagerness,
gpt
Let me go back--don't say anything. Nobody can watch my child but me, said the heartbroken woman; and once more she looked in her son's face. She wanted to read there what had happened--to ascertain from him, without any one else being the wiser, all the dreadful particulars which now, in the first relief of Susan's recovery, had burst into sudden shape upon her sight.
human
Doctor, we will not detain you; her brother and I will watch my child, said Mrs. Vincent. The light forsook her eyes as she rose in that new and darker depth of anxiety; her little figure tottered trying to stand as she held out her hand to her son.
gpt
You and me--only you and me, Arthur--we must never leave her; though everybody is so kind----
human
I have good news, too, he said;
gpt
Arthur! cried Mrs. Vincent, with a sharp outcry of alarm and remonstrance.
human
Oh, God forgive me! I shall wake my child. Arthur! The doctor is very good, added the widow, looking round upon them always with the instinct of conciliating Arthur's friends;
gpt
she concluded, with a wistful, deprecating smile, all the time making signs to Arthur to stop him in his indiscreet revelations.
human
My dear, you will tell me presently when we are alone.
gpt
Ah, mother, said Vincent, with a suppressed groan,
human
Hush, hush--she has fainted--all will come right; let us get her away, cried Dr. Rider under his breath. Between them the two young men carried her out of the room, which Mrs. Rider closed after them with a certain triumph. The widow was not in so deep a faint but the fresher air outside and the motion revived her. It was more a sudden failing of her faculties in the height of emotion than actual insensibility. She made a feeble effort to resist and return into Susan's room.
gpt
You will wake her, said Dr. Rider in her ear; and the poor mother sank back in their arms, fixing her wistful misty eyes, in which everything swam, upon her son. Her lips moved as she looked at him, though he could not hear her say a word; but the expression in her face, half awakened only from the incomprehension of her swoon, was not to be mistaken or resisted. Vincent bent down over her, and repeated what he had said as he carried her to another room.
human
Susan is safe--Susan is innocent. It is all over; mother, you understand me?