Whiteoak Harvest by Mazo de la Roche

Author:Mazo de la Roche
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2010-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

XVI

HIS OWN ROOM

NICHOLAS WAS PROPPED up in bed reading when Renny returned. He laid down his paper and looked expectantly into his nephew’s face. Renny said:

“He’s quiet now. But he’s in a bad way. I wonder if I ought to send for the doctor.”

“What is it all about?” asked Nicholas irritably.

Renny sat down on a chair by the side of the bed, folded his arms and drew down his mouth at the corners.

“Are you going to tell me, or aren’t you?” demanded Nicholas.

“He’s turned against Sarah, Uncle Nick. He can’t bear to have her near him. Do you think he may be going out of his mind? They say it’s a sign, when you turn against those you love.”

Nicholas returned his look with one still more sombre. Then he said, emphatically:

“No, no, I don’t believe any such thing. She’s just got on his nerves. He’s been under a strain … all those recitals … he’s tired out. Then — she’s a queer girl — I never could make her out.”

“She’s damned passionate — behind that cold face of hers.”

Nicholas growled — “Hmph, well, my wife was damned cold, under an alluring exterior.”

“You turned against her, didn’t you?”

“Absolutely. But in a normal way — no hysterics on either side.”

“He says he can’t stay in the house with her. He looks awful. I believe he’ll go nutty if she starts her fiddling again.”

“Send him away for a change.”

“When I suggested that, he said he wouldn’t leave his old room. He said he never wanted to leave it again.”

Nicholas ran his hand distractedly through his tumbled grey hair. He said:

“Bring me a whiskey and soda. I want to think.”

“Remember your gout.”

Nicholas groaned back to his pillow.

“Lord, yes! Give me a little plain soda, then. I’m thirsty. Just put a spot in the soda, enough to flavour it. I’ll cut out meat today.”

While he was sipping Ernest came into the room his thumb bound in a handkerchief.

“It was a strange coincidence,” he complained, “that I should have had my needle in my hand when Sarah screamed. The result is that I gave myself a disagreeable wound. I’m wondering if there might be a possibility of lockjaw.”

“Not a chance,” growled his brother.

“Well, I am relieved to hear you say that, but really it is very painful,” He turned to Renny. “How is that young man behaving now?”

In brief sentences Renny told him.

“They must be separated for a time,” said Ernest. “My idea is this — let Sarah go to the fox farm. She can make it quite nice with the things Finch and you bought and some of the furniture from our attic. She won’t have much to buy. I’ve suggested it to her and she falls in with the idea. She does not want to be far from Finch yet she realizes that he must be humoured.”

Nicholas looked admiringly at his brother, then deprecatingly at Renny.

“Trust old Ernie,” he said, “to find the solution. I think it’s the best plan possible. That house is standing empty.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.