Schwartz and I were fools enough to give it to Mrs.Housekeeper,last night.'I thought nothing of this--it was one of the eccentricities which were to be expected from him,in his condition.I left him quietly asleep;and I was about to go home,and get a little rest myself--when Mr.Keller's son stopped me in the hall.'Do go and see Madame Fontaine,'he said;'Minna is alarmed about her mother.'I went upstairs again directly.""Had you noticed anything remarkable in Madame Fontaine,"I asked,"before Fritz spoke to you?""I noticed,at the Deadhouse,that she looked frightened out of her senses;and I was a little surprised--holding the opinion I did of her--that such a woman should show so much sensibility.Mr.Keller took charge of her,on our way back to the house.I was quite unprepared for what I saw afterwards,when I went to her room at Fritz's request.
"Did you discover the resemblance to Mr.Keller's illness?""No--not till afterwards.She sent her daughter out of the room;and Ithought she looked at me strangely,when we were alone.'I want the paper that I gave you in the street,last night,'she said.I asked her why she wanted it.She seemed not to know how to reply;she became excited and confused.'To destroy it,to be sure!'she burst out suddenly.'Every bottle my husband left is destroyed--strewed here,there,and everywhere,from the Gate to the Deadhouse.Oh,I know what you think of me--I defy you!'She seemed to forget what she had said,the moment she had said it--she turned away,and opened a drawer,and took out a book closed by metal clasps.My presence in the room appeared to be a lost perception in her mind.The clasps of the book,as well as I could make it out,opened by touching some spring.I noticed that her hands trembled as they tried to find the spring.I attributed the trembling to the terrors of the night,and offered to help her.'Let my secrets alone,'she said--and pushed the book under the pillow of her bed.It was my professional duty to assist her,if I could.Though I attached no sort of importance to what Jack had said,I thought it desirable,before I prescribed for her,to discover whether she had really taken some medicine of her own or not.
She staggered back from me,on my repeating what I had heard from Jack,as if I had terrified her.'What remedy does he mean?I drank nothing but a glass of wine.Send for him directly--I must,and will speak to him!'Itold her this was impossible;I could not permit his sleep to be disturbed.'The watchman!'she cried;'the drunken brute!send for him.'
By this time I began to conclude that there was really something wrong.Icalled in her daughter to look after her while I was away,and then left the room to consult with Fritz.The only hope of finding Schwartz (the night-watch at the Deadhouse being over by that time)was to apply to his sister the nurse.I knew where she lived;and Fritz most kindly offered to go to her.By the time Schwartz was found,and brought to the house,Madame Fontaine was just able to understand what he said,and no more.Ibegan to recognize the symptoms of Mr.Keller's illness.The apathy which you remember was showing itself already.'Leave me to die,'she said quietly;'I deserve it.'The last effort of the distracted mind,rousing for a moment the sinking body,was made almost immediately afterwards.
She raised herself on the pillow,and seized my arm.'Mind!'she said,'Minna is to be married on the thirteenth!'Her eyes rested steadily on me,while she spoke.At the last word,she sank back,and relapsed into the condition in which you have just seen her.""Can you do nothing for her?"
"Nothing.Our modern science is absolutely ignorant of the poisons which Professor Fontaine's fatal ingenuity revived.Slow poisoning by reiterated doses,in small quantities,we understand.But slow poisoning by one dose is so entirely beyond our experience,that medical men in general refuse to believe in it.""Are you sure that she is poisoned?"I asked.
"After what Jack told me this morning when he woke,I have no doubt she is poisoned by 'Alexander's Wine.'She appears to have treacherously offered it to him as a remedy--and to have hesitated,at the last moment,to let him have it.As a remedy,Jack's ignorant faith gave it to her by the hands of Schwartz.When we have more time before us,you shall hear the details.In the meanwhile,I can only tell you that the retribution is complete.Madame Fontaine might even now be saved,if Jack had not given all that remained of the antidote to Mrs.Wagner.
"Is there any objection to my asking Jack for the particulars?""The strongest possible objection.It is of the utmost importance to discourage him from touching on the subject,in the future.He has already told Mrs.Wagner that he has saved her life;and,just before you came in,I found him comforting Minna.'Your mamma has taken her own good medicine,Missy;she will soon get well.'I have been obliged--God forgive me!--to tell your aunt and Minna that he is misled by insane delusions,and that they are not to believe one word of what he has said to them.""No doubt your motive justifies you,"I said--not penetrating his motive at the moment.
"You will understand me directly,"he answered."I trust to your honor under any circumstances.Why have I taken you into my confidence,under _these_circumstances?For a very serious reason,Mr.David.You are likely to be closely associated,in the time to come,with your aunt and Minna--and I look to you to help the good work which I have begun.Mrs.
Wagner's future life must not be darkened by a horrible recollection.
That sweet girl must enjoy the happy years that are in store for her,unembittered by the knowledge of her mother's guilt.Do you understand,now,why I am compelled to speak unjustly of poor Jack?"As a proof that I understood him,I promised the secrecy which he had every right to expect from me.
The entrance of the nurse closed our conference.She reported Madame Fontaine's malady to be already altering for the worse.