The Ghost: A Modern Fantasy
Page 55"But surely you have been ill?" I said.
She tapped her foot. It was the first symptom of nervous impatience
that I had observed in her.
"Not in body," she replied curtly. "Tell me all about the funeral."
And I gave her an account of the impressive incidents of the
interment--the stately procession, the grandiose ritual, the symbols
of public grief. She displayed a strange, morbid curiosity as to it
all.
And then suddenly she rose up from her chair, and I rose also, and she
demanded, as it were pushed by some secret force to the limit of her
endurance: "You loved him, didn't you, Mr. Foster?"
It was not an English phrase; no Englishwoman would have used it.
thought that I could have grown so fond of any one in such a short
time. He wasn't merely fine as an artist; he was so fine as a man."
She nodded.
"You understood him? You knew all about him? He talked to you openly,
didn't he?"
"Yes," I said. "He used to tell me all kinds of things."
"Then explain to me," she cried out, and I saw that tears brimmed in
her eyes, "why did he die when I came?"
"It was a coincidence," I said lamely.
Seizing my hands, she actually fell on her knees before me, flashing
into my eyes all the loveliness of her pallid, upturned face.
frank with me, and tell me how it is that I have killed him? He said
long ago--do you not remember?--that I was fatal to him. He was
getting better--you yourself said so--till I came, and then he died."
What could I reply? The girl was uttering the thoughts which had
haunted me for days.
I tried to smile a reassurance, and raising her as gently as I could,
I led her back to her chair. It was on my part a feeble performance.
"You are suffering from a nervous crisis," I said, "and I must
prescribe for you. My first prescription is that we do not talk about
Alresca's death."
I endeavored to be perfectly matter-of-fact in tone, and gradually she
"I have not slept since that night," she murmured wearily. "Then you
will not tell me?"
"What have I to tell you, except that you are ill? Stop a moment. I
have an item of news, after all. Poor Alresca has made me his heir."
"That was like his kind heart."
"Yes, indeed. But I can't imagine why he did it!"
"It was just gratitude," said she.
"A rare kind of gratitude," I replied.
"Is no reason given in the will?"