第38章

"I am glad you are here, Dr.Mapleston; for I want your opinion before I move Vincent.Have you seen him?""No, Mrs.Wingfield; I did not know he was here.I have charge of one of the wards, and have not had time to see who are in the others.I sincerely hope Vincent is not seriously hurt.""That's want I want to find out, doctor.His boy brought us news late last night that he was here.He said the doctors considered that he was not in any danger; but as it seems that he had three ribs broken and a deep flesh wound from the explosion of a shell, it seems to me that it must be serious.""I will go up and see him at once, Mrs.Wingfield, and find out from the surgeon in charge of his ward exactly what is the matter with him." Dan led the way to the bed upon which Vincent was lying.He was only dozing, and opened his eyes as they came up.

"My poor boy," Mrs.Wingfleld said, struggling with her tears at the sight of his pale face, "this is sad indeed.""It is nothing very bad, mother," Vincent replied cheerfully;"nothing at all to fret about.The wound is nothing to the injuries of most of those here.I suppose, doctor, I can be moved at once?"Doctor Mapleston felt his pulse.

"Yen are feverish, my lad; but perhaps the best thing for you would be to get you home while you can be moved.You will do far better there than here.But I must speak to the surgeon in charge of you first, and hear what he says.""Yes, I think you can move him," the surgeon of the ward said.

"He has got a nasty wound, and the ticket with him said that three ribs were badly fractured; but I made no examination, as he said he would be fetched the first thing this morning.I only put on a fresh dressing and bandaged it.The sooner you get him off the better, if he is to be moved.Fever is setting in, and he will probably be wandering by this evening.He will have a much better chance at home, with cool rooms and quiet and careful nursing, than he can have here; though there would be no lack of either comforts or nurses, for half the ladies in the town have volunteered for the work, and we have offers of all the medical comforts that could be required were the list of wounded ten times as large as it is."A stretcher was brought in, and Vincent was lifted as gently as possible upon it.Then he was carried down-stairs and the stretcher placed in the carriage, which was a large open one, and afforded just sufficient length for it.Mrs.Wingfield took her seat beside him.Dan mounted the box beside the coachman.

"I will be out in an hour, Mrs.Wingfield," Dr.Mapleston said."Ihave to go round the ward again, and will then drive out at once.

Give him lemonade and cooling drinks; don't let him talk.Cut his clothes off him, and keep the room somewhat dark, but with a free current of air.I will bring out some medicine with me."The carriage drove slowly to avoid shaking, and when they approached the house Mrs.Wingfleld told Dan to jump down and come to the side of her carriage.Then she told him to run on as fast as he could ahead, and to tell her daughters not to meet them upon their arrival, and that all the servants were to be kept out of the way, except three men to carry Vincent upstairs.The lad was consequently got up to his room without any excitement, and was soon lying on his bed with a sheet thrown lightly over him.

"That is comfortable," he said, as his mother bathed his face and hands and smoothed his hair."Where are the girls, mother?""They will come in to see you now, Vincent; but you are to keep quite quiet you know, and not to talk." The girls stole in and said a few words, and left him alone again with Mrs.Wingfield.He did not look to them so ill as they had expected, for there was a flush of fever on his cheeks.Dr.Mapleston arrived in another half-hour, examined and redressed the wound, and comforted Mrs.Wingfield with the assurance that there was nothing in it likely to prove dangerous to life.

"Our trouble will be rather with the effect of the shock than with the wound itself.He is very feverish now, and you must not be alarmed if by this evening he is delirious.You will give him this cooling draught every three hours; he can have anything in the way of cooling drinks he likes.If he begins to wander, put cloths dipped in cold water and wrung out on his head, and sponge his hands with water with a little eau de Cologne in it.If he seems very hot set one of the women to fan him, but don't let her go on if it seems to worry him.I will come round again at half past nine this evening and will make arrangements to pass the night here.

We have telegrams saying that surgeons are coming from Charleston and many other places, so I can very well be spared."When the doctor returned in the evening, he found, as he had anticipated, that Vincent was in a high state of fever.This continued four or five days, and then gradually passed off; and he woke up one morning perfectly conscious.His mother was sitting on a chair at the bedside.

"What o'clock is it, mother?" he asked."Have I been asleep long?""Some time, dear," she answered gently; "but you must not talk.

You are to take this draught and to go off to sleep again; when you wake you may ask any questions you like." She lifted the lad's head, gave him the draught and some cold tea, then darkened the room, and in a few minutes he was asleep again.