Le Juif errant. English

by Eugène Sue

  CHAPTER LVI. HYDROPHOBIA.

  When the sick people, assembled in the courtyard, saw the desperateefforts of Morok to force the door of the room which contained SisterMartha and the orphans, their fright redoubled. "It is all over, SisterMartha!" cried they.

  "The door will give way."

  "And the closet has no other entrance."

  "There are two young girls in mourning with her."

  "Come! we must not leave these poor women to encounter the madman.Follow me, friends!" cried generously one of the spectators, who wasstill blessed with health, and he rushed towards the steps to return tothe ante-chamber.

  "It's too late! it's only exposing yourself in vain," cried manypersons, holding him back by force.

  At this moment, voices were heard, exclaiming: "Here is the AbbeGabriel."

  "He is coming downstairs. He has heard the noise."

  "He is asking what is the matter."

  "What will he do?"

  Gabriel, occupied with a dying person in a neighboring room, had,indeed, just learned that Morok, having broken his bonds, had succeededin escaping from the chamber in which he had been temporarily confined.Foreseeing the terrible dangers which might result from the escape ofthe lion-tamer, the missionary consulted only his courage, and hasteneddown, in the hope of preventing greater misfortunes. In obedience tohis orders, an attendant followed him, bearing a brazier full of hotcinders, on which lay several irons, at a white heat, used by thedoctors for cauterizing, in desperate cases of cholera.

  The angelic countenance of Gabriel was very pale; but calm intrepidityshone upon his noble brow. Hastily crossing the passage, and making hisway through the crowd, he went straight to the ante-chamber door. Ashe approached it, one of the sick people said to him, in a lamentablevoice; "Ah, sir! it is all over. Those who can see through the windowsay that Sister Martha is lost."

  Gabriel made no answer, but grasped the key of the door. Before enteringthe room, however, he turned to the attendant, and said to him in a firmvoice: "Are the irons of a white heat?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Then wait here, and be ready. As for you, my friends," he added,turning to some of the sick, who shuddered with terror, "as soon asI enter shut the door after me. I will answer for the rest. And you;friend, only bring your irons when I call."

  And the young missionary turned the key in the lock. At this juncture,a cry of alarm, pity, and admiration rose from every lip, and thespectators drew back from the door, with an involuntary feeling offear. Raising his eyes to heaven, as if to invoke its assistance at thisterrible moment, Gabriel pushed open the door, and immediately closed itbehind him. He was alone with Morok.

  The lion-tamer, by a last furious effort, had almost succeeded inopening the door, to which Sister Martha and the orphans were clinging,in a fit of terror, uttering piercing cries. At the sound of Gabriel'sfootsteps, Morok turned round suddenly. Then, instead of continuinghis attack on the closet, he sprang, with a roar and a bound, upon thenew-comer.

  During this time, Sister Martha and the orphans, not knowing thecause of the sudden retreat of their assailant, took advantage of theopportunity to close and bolt the door, and thus placed themselvesin security from a new attack. Morok, with haggard eye, and teethconvulsively clinched, had rushed upon Gabriel, his hands extendedto seize him by the throat. The missionary stood the shock valiantly.Guessing, at a glance, the intention of his adversary, he seized himby the wrists as he advanced, and, holding him back, bent him downviolently with a vigorous hand. For a second, Morok and Gabriel remainedmute, breathless, motionless, gazing on each other; then the missionarystrove to conquer the efforts of the madman, who, with violent jerks,attempted to throw himself upon him, and to seize and tear him with histeeth.

  Suddenly the lion-tamer's strength seemed to fail, his knees quivered,his livid head sank upon his shoulder, his eyes closed. The missionary,supposing that a momentary weakness had succeeded to the fit of rage,and that the wretch was about to fall, relaxed his hold in order to lendhim assistance. But no sooner did he feel himself at liberty, thanksto his crafty device, than Morok flung himself furiously upon Gabriel.Surprised by this sudden attack, the latter stumbled, and at once felthimself clasped into the iron arms of the madman. Yet, with redoubledstrength and energy, struggling breast to breast, foot to foot, themissionary in his turn succeeded in tripping up his adversary, and,throwing him with a vigorous effort, again seized his hands, and nowheld him down beneath his knee. Having thus completely mastered him,Gabriel turned his head to call for assistance, when Morok, by adesperate strain, succeeded in raising himself a little, and seized withhis teeth the left arm of the missionary. At this sharp, deep, horriblebite, which penetrated to the very bone, Gabriel could not restrain ascream of anguish and horror. He strove in vain to disengage himself,for his arm was held fast, as in a vice, between the firm-set jaws ofMorok.

  This frightful scene had lasted less time than it has taken in thedescription, when suddenly the door leading to the passage was violentlyopened, and several courageous men, who had learned from the patientsto what danger the young priest was exposed, came rushing to hisassistance, in spite of his recommendation not to enter till he shouldcall. The attendant was amongst the number, with the brazier and the hotirons. Gabriel, as soon as he perceived him, said to him in an agitatedvoice: "Quick, friend! your iron. Thank God I had thought of that."

  One of the men who had entered the room was luckily provided with ablanket; and the moment the missionary succeeded in wresting his armfrom the clinched teeth of Morok, whom he still held down with his knee,this blanket was thrown over the madman's head, so that he could now beheld and bound without danger, notwithstanding his desperate resistance.Then Gabriel rose, tore open the sleeve of his cassock, and laying barehis left arm, on which a deep bite was visible, bleeding, of a bluishcolor, he beckoned the attendant to draw near, seized one of the hotirons, and, with a firm and sure hand, twice applied the burning metalto the wound, with a calm heroism which struck all the spectators, withadmiration. But soon so many various emotions, intrepidly sustained,were followed by a natural reaction. Large drops of sweat stood uponGabriel's brow; his long light hair clung to his temples; he grew deadlypale, reeled, lost his senses, and was carried into the next room toreceive immediate attention.

  An accidental circumstance, likely enough to occur, had converted oneof the Princess de Saint-Dizier's falsehoods into a truth. To inducethe orphans to go to the hospital, she had told them Gabriel was there,which at the time she was far from believing. On the contrary, she wouldhave wished to prevent a meeting, which, from the attachment of themissionary to the girls, might interfere with her projects. A littlewhile after the terrible scene we have just related, Rose and Blanche,accompanied by Sister Martha, entered a vast room, of a strange andfatal aspect, containing a number of women who had suddenly been seizedwith cholera.

  These immense apartments, generously supplied for the purpose of atemporary hospital, had been furnished with excessive luxury. The roomnow occupied by the sick women, of whom we speak, had been used fora ball-room. The white panels glittered with sumptuous gilding, andmagnificent pier-glasses occupied the spaces between the windows,through which could be seen the fresh verdure of a pleasant garden,smiling beneath the influence of budding May. In the midst of allthis gilded luxury, on a rich, inlaid floor of costly woods, were seenarranged in regular order four rows of beds, of every shape and kind,from the humble truckle-bed to the handsome couch in carved mahogany.

  This long room was divided into two compartments by a temporarypartition, four or five feet in height. They had thus been able tomanage the four rows of beds. This partition finished at some littledistance from either end of the room, so as to leave an open spacewithout beds, for the volunteer attendants, when the sick did notrequire their aid. At one of these extremities of the room was a loftyand magnificent marble chimney piece, ornamented with gilt bronze.On the fire beneath, various drinks were brewing for the patients. Tocomplete the sing
ular picture, women of every class took their turns inattending upon the sick, to whose sighs and groans they always respondedwith consoling words of hope and pity. Such was the place, strange andmournful, that Rose and Blanche entered together, hand in hand, a shorttime after Gabriel had displayed such heroic courage in the struggleagainst Morok. Sister Martha accompanied Marshal Simon's daughters.After speaking a few words to them in a whisper, she pointed out to themthe two divisions in which the beds were arranged, and herself went tothe other end of the room to give some orders.

  The orphans, still under the impression of the terrible danger fromwhich Gabriel had rescued them without their knowing it, were bothexcessively pale; yet their eyes were expressive of firm resolution.They had determined not only to perform what they considered animperative duty, but to prove themselves worthy of their valiant father;they were acting too for their mother's sake, since they had been toldthat, dying in Siberia without receiving the sacrament, her eternalfelicity might depend on the proofs they gave of Christian devotion.Need we add that the Princess de Saint-Dizier, following the advice ofRodin, had, in a second interview, skillfully brought about without theknowledge of Dagobert, taken advantage of the excitable qualitiesof these poor, confiding, simple, and generous souls, by a fatalexaggeration of the most noble and courageous sentiments. The orphanshaving asked Sister Martha if Madame Augustine du Tremblay had beenbrought to this asylum within the last three days, that person hadanswered, that she really did not know, but, if they would go throughthe women's wards, it would be easy for them to ascertain. For theabominable hypocrite, who, in conjunction with Rodin, had sent thesetwo children to encounter a mortal peril, had told an impudent falsehoodwhen she affirmed that their governess had been removed to thishospital. During their exile, and their toilsome journey with Dagobert,the sisters had been exposed to many hard trials. But never had theywitnessed so sad a spectacle as that which now offered itself to theirview.

  The long row of beds, on which so many poor creatures writhed in agony,some uttering deep groans, some only a dull rattle in the throat, someraving in the delirium of fever, or calling on those from whom they wereabout to part forever--these frightful sights and sounds, which aretoo much even for brave men, would inevitably, (such was the execrabledesign of Rodin and his accomplices) make a fatal impression on theseyoung girls, urged by the most generous motives to undertake thisperilous visit. And then--sad memory! which awoke, in all its deep andpoignant bitterness, by the side of the first beds they came to--it wasof this very malady, the Cholera, that their mother had died a painfuldeath. Fancy the twins entering this vast room, of so fearful anaspect, and, already much shaken by the terror which Morok had inspired,pursuing their search in the midst of these unfortunate creatures, whosedying pangs reminded them every instant of the dying agony of theirmother! For a moment, at sight of the funeral hall, Rose and Blanche hadfelt their resolution fail them. A black presentiment made them regrettheir heroic imprudence; and, moreover, since several minutes they hadbegun to feel an icy shudder, and painful shootings across the temples;but, attributing these symptoms to the fright occasioned by Morok, theirgood and valiant natures soon stifled all these fears. They exchangedglances of affection, their courage revived, and both of them--Roseon one side of the partition, and Blanche on the other--proceeded withtheir painful task. Gabriel, carried to the doctors' private room, hadsoon recovered his senses. Thanks to his courage and presence of mind,his wound, cauterized in time, could have no dangerous consequences.As soon as it was dressed he insisted on returning to the women's ward,where he had be offering pious consolations to a dying person at themoment they had come to inform him of the frightful danger caused by theescape of Morok.

  A few minutes before the missionary entered the room, Rose and Blanchearrived almost together at the term of their mournful search, one fromthe left, the other from the right-hand row of beds, separated by thepartition which divided the hall into compartments. The sisters had notyet seen each other. Their steps tottered as they advanced, and theywere forced, from time to time, to lean against the beds as they passedalong. Their strength was--rapidly failing them. Giddy with fear andpain, they appeared to act almost mechanically. Alas! the orphans hadbeen seized almost at the same moment with the terrible symptoms ofcholera. In consequence of that species of physiological phenomenon, ofwhich we have already spoken--a phenomenon by no means rare in twins,which had already been displayed on one or two occasions of theirsickness--their organizations seemed liable to the same sensations, thesame simultaneous accidents, like two flowers on one stem, which bloomand fade together. The sight of so much suffering, and so many deaths,had accelerated the development of this dreadful disease. Already, ontheir agitated and altered countenances, they bore the mortal tokens ofthe contagion, as they came forth, each on her own side, from thetwo subdivisions of the room in which they had vainly sought theirgoverness. Until now separated by the partition, Rose and Blanche hadnot yet seen each other; but, when at length their eyes met, thereensued a heart rending scene.