Blind Love

The spare bedroom--that assigned to the patient--was on the

ground-floor next to the dining-room; it communicated with the garden

by French windows, and by a small flight of steps.

Fanny walked cautiously along the road past the garden-gate; a rapid

glance assured her that no one was there; she hastily opened the gate

and slipped in. She knew that the windows of the sick-room were closed

on the inner side, and the blinds were still down. The patient,

therefore, had not yet been disturbed or visited. The windows of the

dining-room were on the other side of the house. The woman therefore

slipped round to the back, where she found, as she expected, the door

wide open. In the hall she heard the voices of the doctor and Lord

Harry and the clicking of knives and forks. They were at breakfast.

One thing more--What should she say to Oxbye? What excuse should she

make for coming back? How should she persuade him to keep silence about

her presence? His passion suggested a plan and a reason. She had come

back, she would tell him, for love of him, to watch over him, unseen by

the doctor, to go away with him when he was strong enough to travel. He

was a simple and a candid soul, and he would fall into such a little

innocent conspiracy. Meantime, it would be quite easy for her to remain

in the house perfectly undisturbed and unknown to either of the

gentlemen.

She opened the door and looked in.

So far, no reason would be wanted. The patient was sleeping peacefully.

But not in the bed. He was lying, partly dressed and covered with a

blanket, on the sofa. With the restlessness of convalescence he had

changed his couch in the morning after a wakeful night, and was now

sleeping far into the morning.

The bed, as is common in French houses, stood in an alcove. A heavy

curtain hung over a rod, also in the French manner. Part of this

curtain lay over the head of the bed.

The woman perceived the possibility of using the curtain as a means of

concealment. There was a space of a foot between the bed and the wall.

She placed herself, therefore, behind the bed, in this space, at the

head, where the curtain entirely concealed her. Nothing was more

unlikely than that the doctor should look behind the bed in that

corner. Then with her scissors she pierced a hole in the curtain large

enough for her to see perfectly without the least danger of being seen,

and she waited to see what would happen.