Lady Eureka; or, The Mystery: A Prophecy of the Future. Volume 2

A CONVERSATION UPON THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE.

"Now, doctor, you know my secret, and the whole of it," said Zabra, at the conclusion of a long and interesting narrative he had communicated to Dr. Tourniquet, upon one of his professional visits. "Let not a word pass from your lips concerning what I have told you, for it would do me irreparable mischief. Be in your behaviour to me exactly as you have been. The slightest alteration would create suspicion, and that I am most anxious to avoid. May I rely upon you?"

"Rely upon me!" cried the surgeon, while his good-natured countenance was glowing with benevolence. "If you ever catch me saying a word, I'll allow any body to make a preparation of me before I'm dead. I'd sooner demonstrate upon my own skeleton, don't you see, than betray your secret. By all that's good, you're an extraordinary creature--a more extraordinary creature than ever I met with in the whole course of my practice. I always thought there was something strange about you, don't you see--a mystery I could not exactly understand--but now every thing appears as simple as the first rudiments of medicine."

"You gratify me exceedingly by this assurance," observed the youth, "and I am delighted by your ready acquiescence with my wishes. How can I best express my gratitude?"

"Tush, tush--don't talk about that," replied the other kindly. "Knowing what I do of you, I would do any thing in the world to serve you, don't you see. Consider me from this time as your father, your brother, or your friend, and whenever my advice or assistance can be useful, apply to me, and I will do all in my power to forward your interests."

"You overpower me with your goodness," said his young companion, returning the cordial pressure of the hand he had received. "Can I ever repay----"

"Tush, tush, never mind repaying," hastily rejoined the doctor. "I am well repaid by the pleasure it gives me to assist in your noble intentions, don't you see. But if I may be allowed to give you a little advice, I should strongly recommend you not to be so careless of your life as you have been. You are not formed for fighting, don't you see. You are not strong enough; but notwithstanding that, to my certain knowledge you paid off many of the piratical rascals pretty handsomely, and showed them to what profit you could apply the lessons they had given you. When I think of you finishing some of the scoundrels so dexterously as you did, I am filled with wonder. However, it is not right. You stand no chance in the midst of a set of strong ferocious men intent upon destroying all who oppose them. Your escape is a miracle; but you should remember that you cannot be spared."

"Ah, doctor!" replied his patient, with a languid smile, "what made you join in the conflict? Consider if you had been killed, what would have become of the wounded."

"True, true," responded Tourniquet; "I never gave that a thought. But I had no time to think. I saw every one preparing to fight, and I knew we should all be massacred if we didn't succeed. Although it was a sort of trade to which I was quite unused, the examples I saw before me made me valiant, and when I got fairly into the fray, I found myself obliged to cut away as hard as I could, don't you see. Fortyfolios, too, didn't do amiss. It's wonderful how the prospect of being cut to pieces, if one don't fight, makes a fellow fight. The professor went at it as if he was at one of his old arguments; and I must say this for him, he convinced his opponents then much more perfectly than he does in his verbal disputes."

"He is not hurt, I hope?" inquired Zabra earnestly.

"No, but he had a narrow escape," replied the doctor. "A ball grazed his ear, and a cutlass has scratched his ribs. I should have been sorry if either had taken the effect intended; for although he is somewhat dogmatical and intemperate in his manner of arguing, he possesses no ordinary share of learning, don't you see."

"How are the rest of the wounded getting on?" asked his patient.

"Famously," said the surgeon cheerfully; "I think they are all doing well. I may add, as well as it is possible for them to do. Two or three of them have been severely used; on one I shall be obliged to perform an operation. Climberkin's wounds are beginning to heal; Ardent has returned to his duty. Many have received but trifling hurts, and Hearty, Boggle, and Master Porphyry have escaped without a scratch. This is rather surprising, considering that the old man Hearty--Captain Hearty we must call him now, I suppose--fine old fellow! hacked his way through the pirates with a cool, steady, determined courage that nothing could withstand; and as for Oriel Porphyry, he fought like a hero. I never saw such a change in any man, don't you see. He looked as if he'd been born a conqueror, and for the first time in his life had ventured into his right element. There was such a fire in his eyes, and such a grandeur in his appearance. It was extraordinary. His very looks seemed to kill; none could resist him."

"Is he not a noble creature?" said Zabra, his eyes again glowing with all their accustomed animation.

"Indeed he is," replied Dr. Tourniquet, with emphasis: "I don't wonder at your enthusiasm, don't you see. I shall begin to look upon him with a similar admiration myself. I never could have supposed that the mere appearance of daring valour was so grand and imposing; but there is something of the cause of this in his tall manly figure, and handsome countenance, don't you see."

"Hush! there is his footstep," exclaimed the youth earnestly, as he arranged with his unwounded arm the bed-clothes closely around him. "This place is too dark for him to see very accurately, which is what I require. There! be feeling my pulse when he enters."

"How is he now, doctor," inquired Oriel Porphyry, advancing towards the hammock near which the surgeon stood, seemingly intent upon his professional duties.

"His pulse is getting more firm," said Dr. Tourniquet, assuming an air of great seriousness, "and his wound is suppurating healthily. He cannot be doing better. But you must apply to the patient for further information, as I am obliged to go my rounds, don't you see." So saying, the doctor departed.

"Are you better, Zabra?" affectionately asked Master Porphyry, seating himself by the hammock of his wounded friend.

"Much better, Oriel," replied the youth, as he held out his hand to clasp that of his patron. The merchant's son felt that the small hand within his own was dry and hot, and that the flesh had lost much of the roundness by which it had previously been distinguished.

"Your skin feels feverish," remarked his companion. "But not so much so, I think, as it was yesterday; and your eyes look more brilliant. I shall be delighted when you recover, not only because I miss the rich melody of your voice, and the stirring eloquence of your conversation, but because I know the confinement and inaction consequent upon this indisposition can scarcely be endurable to such a nature as yours. But when you do recover, which I hope will be speedily, I will take care you shall not again run into such risks. Who could have supposed that you were planning such an admirable scheme! I had not the slightest idea of such a thing. Far from it, I thought, and I blame myself exceedingly for having entertained a suspicion to your prejudice, that you had some sinister intention in your behaviour to the pirates. It is only an act of justice on my part to acknowledge that I have thought unworthily of you, without a cause; but I am too well aware that such an avowal forms an inadequate reparation, you must therefore allow me to express my regrets for the injury I have done you, in a manner more in accordance with my own sense of right. I am indebted to you not only for life and liberty, but for all that render them in my case more than usually endurable; for this I can never be sufficiently grateful: and when my father comes to know, as know he soon shall, how much you assisted in rescuing his ship from the pirates, and his son from their weapons, I am quite sure that he will rather seek to increase than diminish the measure by which I would show the extent of the obligation you have rendered. But, besides this, I have a natural affection for you, which has been created by a knowledge of your amiable disposition and noble character; and I should wish you always to be with me, that I might as much as possible profit by the example of your good qualities; therefore you must submit to the necessity of sharing my fortune, and of becoming in every respect the equal of myself."

"This cannot be, Oriel," said the other mildly. "Allow me still the same opportunities I have enjoyed of watching over your safety; and if, through my care and attention you are enabled to return unharmed to Eureka, and your sentiments in my favour remain the same, and she shows no disinclination to their indulgence, I will offer no further opposition."

"This is very strange of you," remarked Oriel Porphyry. "Very strange: I cannot account for it, except I imagine that there is a sort of pride in your nature that cannot accommodate itself to any thing in the shape of favours from another."

"It is not that," replied the youth languidly. "Indeed, it is not that. Your kindness has made upon me so deep an impression, and your friendship has become so intimately commingled with all my sympathies, that now I should find it a difficult matter to exist without them. But there are causes which I cannot explain, that prevent my accepting your generous proposals, independently of which there is nothing in what I have done that deserves such a return. Remember that my duty here is to endeavour to preserve you from every danger by which you may be threatened. I have accepted an office, and I am bound to fulfil its duties. In the part I played to effect your escape out of the power of those wretches, I only performed what I had engaged myself to do; and although my efforts to deceive your captors were repugnant to my feelings, I continued the deception because I saw that there was no way of effecting your liberation, but by practising deceit. Again, I assure you, that Eureka will amply reward me (if a reward be necessary) for any service I may be so fortunate as to be able to render you."

"But why am not I to be allowed to acknowledge the obligation according to my own sense of your merit?" asked his patron.

"Because it is Eureka's chief pleasure," replied Zabra, with a faltering voice, "to reward after her own fashion those whom she employs to serve him to whom she is devoted; and surely you would not wish to deprive her of a gratification to the enjoyment of which she puts forth, as you acknowledge, so good a title."

"Well, well, I must reserve my gratitude for her then, I suppose," said Oriel Porphyry. "But, of course, you will remain with me as you have hitherto done."

"Till there shall be no longer any occasion for my stay," responded the other. "While you love Eureka, there will always appear to me to be a necessity for my remaining with you; but when your love for her disappears, there will be no longer occasion for my presence."