Fedrum, when Marden reached it, was already full of dusk; but the dusk, to his quickened imagination, was no more than a soft dark cloak for the shining limbs of beauty. He left his horse in the care of a servant, and having been shewn to his room, and having washed away the soil and weariness of the journey, he went in search of Dr Humphrey, whom he found, according to his expectations, at work or at dream in his laboratory. At Marden’s entry the doctor looked up, fixed his gaze upon him, but gave no sign of greeting. His eyes were lit with a remote speculation. He was a small spare man, in age a trifle over sixty. The angularity of his features, his sharp nose and his shaggy brows, gave him the look of a highly intelligent and benevolent dog. As befitted a man of his age and station, he was dressed soberly, and in a less recent mode than that affected by Marden; and, unlike his young friend, he wore a wig, a grey wig whose colour contrasted sharply with the blackness of his brows. The curve of his nostril, the firm line of his mouth, suggested delicacy and resolution; the large eyes, heavy-lidded and with pouches pendent, were so brightly illumined by the mind that looked through them as to quicken the whole aging face with the animation of quest. He gazed unseeing at his guest; and Marden stood in the doorway waiting patiently, amusedly, for recognition.
‘Ah, Marden! I am delighted to see you, my dear sir. So you’ve arrived at last, I see. Yes, I see you have.’ As though to see still better, he came forward to meet the young man. ‘Is your horse looked to? Has my daughter been informed?’
‘Yes, yes,’ said Marden. ‘At least I fully believe so. If not, there’s time enough. I would not have her disturbed yet. Bad news will keep.’ He ended with a wry, selfconscious smile. For now the idea of meeting Celia made him nervous; and he was ready to think himself an interloper, and to shun the encounter he had so eagerly sought all day.
‘Bad news? What bad news is this?’ The doctor blinked sympathetically.
‘I was referring, sir, to my own audacity, to my . . . that is . . . in short, to my unexpected arrival at your house.’ He hurried on, blushing for his gaucherie. ‘Guessing you to be here, sir, I took the liberty of seeking you unannounced. But I see you are engaged——’
‘Liberty fiddlesticks!’ said his host, with some asperity. ‘Engaged I am truly: poking and prying into the nature of things, like any child staring at an ant-hill: but never so deeply engaged as not to welcome you, my dear sir.’ The two men bowed to each other. ‘You come at a happy moment,’ added Dr Humphrey. ‘I am on the point of trying an experiment in aerostatics. Come now: you shall see it.’ His voice was excited, his eyes fiery with eagerness. ‘But first,’ said he, with an abrupt difficult resumption of formal politeness, ‘tell me your news. You have had an agreeable journey?’
‘Very agreeable,’ said Marden. ‘But I am interrupting you——’
‘And,’ said the doctor, almost sternly, as though resolved to fulfil the very letter of civility, ‘you have enjoyed good health, you and your household?’
‘Alas, no,’ answered the young man. ‘For myself I have nothing to complain of. But my man Dewdney——’
‘Excellent!’ The doctor turned back to his bench. ‘Now this little experiment, my friend, is . . .’ His voice trailed away.
‘My man Dewdney,’ repeated Marden, ‘who had been of my household longer than I can remember . . .’
‘Ah yes,’ agreed the doctor. ‘Faithful fellow. . . . This little experiment, Marden, is one that may have very far-reaching results. But you were telling about your servant?’
Marden thought it best to come to the point quickly and have done. ‘We buried him last week.’
‘Yes?’ said the doctor, smiling pleasantly. ‘Very far-reaching results indeed. So you buried him, did you?’ Seeing his guest’s grave look, he tried to recall his wandering thoughts. ‘What was that! Did you say you had buried him?
Marden nodded.
‘Poor fellow! God rest his soul. Now this is what I propose to do. Here is a basin of common water. Very sad indeed, Marden. Upon my word it is. Common well water, d’ye see? And here is the allantois of a calf, which I’ve had specially prepared for me at the Faculty. Now from this common water I am going to extract a vapour, and with that vapour I am going to fill the allantois. And then—
‘I think, if you don’t mind, sir——’
‘Eh? Yes, certainly, my boy. You’ll find Celia in the music-room, or the library, or perhaps the . . . music-room. We shall meet later.’
‘Doctor,’ said Marden, speaking stiffly to hide his embarrassment, ‘I propose, with your permission, to ask Miss Humphrey’s hand in marriage.’