She begged him, with courteous authority,
to hasten.
The houses were a good way apart. After half an hour's fast walking,
Caius came to the appointed place. The house was large, of
light-coloured wood, shingled all over roof and sides, and the light and
shades in the lapping of the shingles gave the soft effect almost as of
feathers in the lesser light of night. It stood in a large compound of
undulating grassy ground.
The whole lower floor of this house was one room. In the middle of it,
on a small pallet bedstead, lay the sick man. Beside him was a woman
dressed in gray homespun, apparently his wife, and another woman who
wore a dress not unlike that of a nun, a white cap being bandaged
closely round her forehead, cheeks and chin. The nun-like dress gave her
great dignity. She seemed to Caius a strong-featured woman of large
stature, apparently in early middle age. He was a good deal surprised
when he found that this was Madame Le Maitre. He had had no definite
notion of her, but this certainly did not fulfil his idea.
It was but the work of a short time to do all that could be done that
night for the sick man, to leave the remedies that were to be used. It
was now midnight. The hot stove in the room, causing reaction from the
strongly-stimulating air, made him again feel heavy with sleep. The
nun-like lady, who had as yet said almost nothing to him, now touched
him on the shoulder and beckoned him to follow her.
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