‘Still, Hilda, I am loth –’
She waved her hand impatiently. ‘Waste no time,’ she cried, in an authoritative voice. ‘If you happen to let that needle rub carelessly against the sleeve of your coat you may destroy the evidence. Take it at once to your room, plunge it into a culture, and lock it up safe at a proper temperature – where Sebastian cannot get at it – till the consequences develop.’
I did as she bid me. By this time, I was not wholly unprepared for the result she anticipated. My belief in Sebastian had sunk to zero, and was rapidly reaching a negative quantity.
At nine the next morning, I tested one drop of the culture under the microscope. Clear and limpid to the naked eye, it was alive with small objects of a most suspicious nature, when properly magnified. I knew those hungry forms. Still, I would not decide offhand on my own authority in a matter of such moment. Sebastian’s character was at stake – the character of the man who led the profession. I called in Callaghan, who happened to be in the ward, and asked him to put his eye to the instrument for a moment. He was a splendid fellow for the use of high powers, and I had magnified the culture 300 diameters. ‘What do you call those?’ I asked, breathless.
He scanned them carefully with his experienced eye. ‘Is it the microbes ye mean?’ he answered. ‘An’ what ’ud they be, then, if it wasn’t the bacillus of pyaemia?’
‘Blood-poisoning!’ I ejaculated, horror-struck.
‘Aye; blood-poisoning: that’s the English of it.’
I assumed an air of indifference. ‘I made them that myself,’ I rejoined, as if they were mere ordinary experimental germs; ‘but I wanted confirmation of my own opinion. You’re sure of the bacillus?’
‘An’ haven’t I been keeping swarms of those very same bacteria under close observation for Sebastian for seven weeks past? Why, I know them as well as I know me own mother.’
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘That will do.’ And I carried off the microscope, bacilli and all, into Hilda Wade’s sitting-room. ‘Look yourself!’ I cried to her.
She stared at them through the instrument with an unmoved face. ‘I thought so,’ she answered shortly. ‘The bacillus of pyaemia. A most virulent type. Exactly what I expected.’
‘You anticipated that result?’
‘Absolutely. You see, blood-poisoning matures quickly, and kills almost to a certainty. Delirium supervenes so soon that the patient has no chance of explaining suspicions. Besides, it would all seem so very natural! Everybody would say: “She got some slight wound, which microbes from some case she was attending contaminated.” You may be sure Sebastian thought out all that. He plans with consummate skill. He had designed everything.’
I gazed at her, uncertain. ‘And what will you do?’ I asked. ‘Expose him?’
She opened both her palms with a blank gesture of helplessness. ‘It is useless!’ she answered. ‘Nobody would believe me. Consider the situation. You know the needle I gave you was the one Sebastian meant to use – the one he dropped and I caught – because you are a friend of mine, and because you have learned to trust me. But who else would credit it? I have only my word against his – an unknown nurse’s against the great Professor’s. Everybody would say I was malicious or hysterical. Hysteria is always an easy stone to fling at an injured woman who asks for justice. They would declare I had trumped up the case to forestall my dismissal. They would set it down to spite. We can do nothing against him. Remember, on his part, the utter absence of overt motive.’
‘And you mean to stop on here, in close attendance on a man who has attempted your life?’ I cried, really alarmed for her safety.
‘I am not sure about that,’ she answered. ‘I must take time to think. My presence at Nathaniel’s was necessary to my Plan. The Plan fails for the present. I have now to look round and reconsider my position.’
‘But you are not safe here now,’ I urged, growing warm. ‘If Sebastian really wishes to get rid of you, and is as unscrupulous as you suppose, with his gigantic brain he can soon compass his end. What he plans he executes. You ought not to remain within the Professor’s reach one hour longer.’
‘I have thought of that, too,’ she replied, with an almost unearthly calm. ‘But there are difficulties either way. At any rate, I am glad he did not succeed this time. For, to have killed me now, would have frustrated my Plan’ – she clasped her hands – ‘my Plan is ten thousand times dearer than life to me!’
‘Dear lady!’ I cried, drawing a deep breath, ‘I implore you in this strait, listen to what I urge. Why fight your battle alone? Why refuse assistance? I have admired you so long – I am so eager to help you. If only you will allow me to call you –’
Her eyes brightened and softened. Her whole bosom heaved. I felt in a flash she was not wholly indifferent to me. Strange tremors in the air seemed to play about us. But she waved me aside once more. ‘Don’t press me,’ she said, in a very low voice. ‘Let me go my own way. It is hard enough already, this task I have undertaken, without your making it harder… Dear friend, dear friend, you don’t quite understand. There are two men at Nathaniel’s whom I desire to escape – because they both alike stand in the way of my Purpose.’ She took my hands in hers. ‘Each in a different way,’ she murmured once more. ‘But each I must avoid. One is Sebastian. The other – ’ she let
