CHAPTER XXXII
WOMANLY USEFULNESS
"Did you ring, Mas' Eric?"
"Yes. Has Irene come home?"
"Not yet, sir."
"Bring some more wood."
Owing to the scarcity of coal, the grate had been removed, and massivebrass andirons substituted. John piled them with oak wood, swept thehearth, and retired. After a time, the door opened and the mistress camein.
"Irene! you must be nearly frozen. What kept you out so late?"
"I had more than usual to attend to at the Asylum this afternoon."
"What was the matter?"
"We have a new matron, and I was particularly anxious that she should startright in one or two respects. I waited, too, in order to see the childrenat supper, and satisfy myself about the cooking."
"How many orphans are there in the Asylum?"
"Thirty-four. I admitted two this evening--children of one of our soldiers,who died from a wound received at Leesburg."
"Poor little things! I am afraid you will find numbers of similar instancesbefore this war is at an end."
"We will try to find room for all such cases. The building will accommodateone hundred."
"You must be very cold; I will make John bring you a glass of wine."
"No, sir; I do not need it. My shawl was thick and warm."
"Irene."
She turned her head slightly, and raised her eyes.
"Did you receive a letter which I sent to your room?"
"Yes, sir. It was from Dr. Arnold."
"He has established himself in Richmond."
"Yes, sir; his recent attack of rheumatism unfitted him for service in thefield."
"I had a letter from Colonel Aubrey to-day. He wants to buy my house."
She made no comment, and her eyes drooped again to the perusal of thestrange shapes which danced and flickered on the burnished andirons.
"What use do you suppose he had for it?"
"I cannot imagine, unless he intends it as a home for Electra."
"What a witch you are at guessing; that is exactly it. He says, in thisletter, that he may not survive the war, and wishes to have the assurancethat his cousin is comfortably provided for, before he goes into anotherbattle. His offer is liberal, and I shall accept it."
"Well, I am glad she will own it--for I have often heard her speak of thoseold poplar trees in the front yard. She has always admired the place."
At this juncture the tea-bell summoned them to the dining-room, and sheallowed her uncle no opportunity of renewing the conversation. When themeal was concluded, and they had returned to the library, Irene drew hertable and basket near the lamp, and resumed her knitting. The invalidfrowned, and asked impatiently--
"Can't you buy as many of those coarse things as you want, without toilingnight and day?"
"In the first place, I do not toil; knitting is purely mechanical, veryeasy, and I like it. In the second place, I cannot buy them, and our menneed them when they are standing on guard. It is cold work holding a musketin the open air, such weather as this."
He looked annoyed, and dived deeper among his cushions.
"Don't you feel as well as usual this evening, Uncle Eric?"
"Oh! I am well enough--but I hate the everlasting motion of those steelneedles."
She rolled up the glove, put it in her basket, and rose.
"Shall I read to you? Or, how would you like a game of chess?"
"I do not expect you to humour my whims. Above all things, my child, Idread the thought of becoming troublesome to you."
"You can never be that, Uncle Eric; and I shall always be glad if you willtell me how I can make your time pass more pleasantly. I know this housemust seem gloomy enough at best. Let us try a game of chess; we have notplayed since you came from Europe."
She brought the board, and they sat down to the most quiet and absorbing ofall games. Both played well, and when Eric was finally vanquished, he wassurprised to find, from the hands of the clock, that the game had lastednearly two hours. As she carefully replaced the ivory combatants in theirbox, Irene said--
"Uncle, you know that I have long desired and intended to go to Richmond,but various circumstances combined to keep me at home. I felt that I hadduties here which must first be discharged; now the time has come when Ican accomplish my long-cherished plan. Dr. Arnold has taken charge of thehospital in Richmond which was established with the money we sent fromW---- for the relief of our regiments. Mrs. Campbell is about to beinstalled as matron, and I have to-day decided to join them. In his letterreceived this afternoon he orders me not to come, but I know that he willgive me a ward when he finds me at his elbow. I am aware that you havealways opposed this project, but I hope, sir, that you will waive yourobjections, and go on with me next week."
"It is a strange and unreasonable freak, which, I must say, I do notapprove of. There are plenty of nurses to be hired, who have moreexperience, and are every way far more suitable for such positions."
"Uncle, the men in our armies are not hired to fight our battles; and theleast the women of the land can do is to nurse them when sick or wounded."
She laid her hand gently on his whitening hair, and added pleadingly--
"Do not oppose me, Uncle Eric. I want your sanction in all that I do. Thereare only two of us left; go with me as my adviser--protector. I could notbe happy if you were not with me."
His eyes filled instantly, and drawing her close to him, he exclaimedtremulously--
"My dear Irene! there is nothing I would not do to make you happy. Happy Ifear you never will be. Ah! don't smile and contradict me; I know thedifference between happiness and resignation. Patience, uncomplainingendurance, never yet stole the garments of joy. I will go with you toVirginia, or anywhere else that you wish."
"Thank you, Uncle Eric. I will try to make you forget the comforts of home,and give you no reason to regret that you sacrificed your wishes andjudgment to mine. I must not keep you up any later."
The army of the Potomac had fallen back to Yorktown when Irene reachedRichmond; and the preparations which were being made for the reception ofthe wounded gave melancholy premonition of impending battles.
Dr. Arnold had been entrusted with the supervision of several hospitals,but gave special attention to one established with the funds contributed bythe citizens of W----, and thither Irene repaired on the day of herarrival.
In reply to her inquiries, she was directed to a small room, and found thephysician seated at a table examining a bundle of papers. He saw only aform darkening the doorway, and, without looking up, called out gruffly--
"Well, what is it? What do you want?"
"A word of welcome."
He sprang to his feet instantly, holding out both hands.
"Dear child! Queen! God bless you! How are you? Pale as a cloud, and thinas a shadow. Sit down here by me. Where is Eric?"
"He was much fatigued, and I left him at the hotel."
"You have been ill a long time, Irene, and have kept it from me. That wasnot right; you should have been honest in your letters. A pretty figure youwill cut nursing sick folks! Work in my sight, indeed! If you say work tome again, I will clap you into a lunatic asylum and keep you there till thewar is over. Turn your face to the light."
"I am well enough in body; it is my mind only that is ill at ease; my heartonly that is sick--sorely sick. Here I shall find employment, and, I trust,partial forgetfulness. Put me to work at once; that will be my bestmedicine."
"And you really missed me, Queen?"
"Yes, inexpressibly; I felt my need of you continually. You must know how Icling to you now."
Again he drew her little hands to his granite mouth, and seemed to muse fora moment.
"Doctor, how is Electra?"
"Very well--that is, as well as such an anomalous, volcanic, torridcharacter ought to be. At first she puzzled me (and that is an insult Ifind it hard to forgive), but finally I found the clue. She isindefatigable and astonishingly faithful as
a nurse; does all her duty, andmore, which is saying a good deal--for I am a hard taskmaster. Aren't youafraid that I will work you more unmercifully than a Yankee factory-child,or a Cornwall miner? See here, Queen; what do you suppose brought Electrato Richmond?"
"A desire to render some service to the sick and suffering, and also to becomparatively near her cousin."
"Precisely; only the last should be first, and the first last. Russell is aperverse, ungrateful dog."
As he expected, she glanced up at him, but refrained from comment.
"Yes, Irene--he is a soulless scamp. Here is his cousin entirely devoted tohim, loving him above everything else in this world, and yet he has noteven paid her a visit, except in passing through to Yorktown with hiscommand. He might be a happy man if he would but open his eyes and see whatis as plain as the nose on my face--which, you must admit, requires nomicroscope. She is a gifted woman, and would suit him exactly--even betterthan my salamander, Salome."
A startled, incredulous expression came into Irene's large eyes, andgradually a look of keen pain settled on her features.
"Aha! did that idea never occur to you before?"
"Never, sir; and you must be mistaken."
"Why, child? The fact is patent. You women profess to be so quick-witted,too, in such matters--I am amazed at your obtuseness. She idolizes Aubrey."
"It is scarcely strange that she should; she has no other relatives nearher, and it is natural that she should love her cousin."
"I tell you I know what I say! she will never love anybody else as sheloves Aubrey. Besides, what is it to you whether he marries her or not?"
"I feel attached to her, and want to see her happy."
"As Russell's wife?"
"No, sir. The marriage of cousins was always revolting to me."
She did not flinch from his glittering grey eye, and her grieved lookdeepened.
"Is she here? Can I see her?"
"She is not in this building, but I will inform her of your arrival. I havebecome much interested in her. She is a brilliant, erratic creature, andhas a soul! which cannot safely be predicated of all the sex nowadays.Where are you going?"
"Back to Uncle Eric. Will you put me in the same hospital with Electra andMrs. Campbell?"
"I will put you in a strait-jacket! I promise you that."
Electra was agreeably surprised at the unusual warmth with which Irenereceived her some hours later, but little suspected why the lips lingeredin their pressure of hers, or understood the wistful tenderness of the eyeswhich dwelt so fondly on her face. The icy wall of reserve had suddenlymelted, as if in the breath of an August noon, and dripped silently downamong things long past. Russell's name was casually mentioned more thanonce, and Electra fell asleep that night wholly unconscious that the tornand crumpled pages of her heart had been thoroughly perused by the womanfrom whom she was most anxious to conceal the truth.
Having engaged a suite of rooms near the hospital, a few days sufficed forpreliminary arrangements, and Irene was installed in a ward of the buildingto which she had requested Dr. Arnold to appoint her.
Thus, by different, by devious thorny paths, two sorrowing women emergedupon the broad highway of Duty, and, clasping hands, pressed forward to thedivinely appointed goal--Womanly Usefulness.
Only those who have faithfully ministered in a hospital can fullyappreciate the onerous nature of the burdens thus assumed--can realize thecrushing anxiety, the sleepless apprehension, the ceaseless tension ofbrain and nerve, the gnawing, intolerable sickness and aching of heart oversufferings which no human skill can assuage; and the silent blisteringtears which are shed over corpses of men whose families kneel in fardistant homes, praying God's mercy on dear ones lying at that moment starkand cold on hospital cots with strangers' hands about the loved limbs.
Day by day, week after week, those tireless women-watchers walked thepainful round from patient to patient, administering food and medicine todiseased bodies, and words of hope and encouragement to souls, who shranknot from the glare and roar and carnage of battle, but shivered and coweredbefore the daring images which deathless memory called from the peaceful,happy Past. It was not wonderful that the home-sick sufferers regarded themwith emotions which trenched on adoration, or that often, when the palethin faces lighted with a smile of joy at their approach, Irene and Electrafelt that they had a priceless reward.