Charles Todd - A Duty to the Dead

Timothy looked from his mother to his brother and said, “What is it?”

“We were talking about Ted Booker. It’s a painful subject for your brother,” Mrs. Graham answered him.

“Yes, sometimes I think that medal has gone to his head.”

They glared at each other, but there was a tap on the door, and Robert stepped in.

“There’s been a message. Peregrine has pneumonia.”

There was a stunned silence.

“And what are we expected to do about it?” Mrs. Graham asked after a moment.

“He needs nursing. They would like to bring him here.”

Jonathan said explosively, “No!”

Mrs. Graham spoke over him, saying, “We don’t have the staff to look after a sick man. Tell them that.”

“They think he’s dying. They would prefer that he do it elsewhere.”

I could hear Timothy swearing under his breath. “Then we have no choice,” he said to his mother.

Her face was set, grim. “I want no part of this business. For one thing, it’s not safe.”

“He’s no danger to himself or others, in his present condition.”

“Tell the messenger it isn’t possible.”

Timothy said, “Mother.” It was a warning, and a glance passed between them. “If he’s delirious-”

“If you like, I could stay a day or two, and care for him,” I said before I’d thought. “I’ve some experience with pneumonia.”

They turned to stare at me as if I’d offered to climb to the roof and sweep the chimney.

“It’s what I do,” I said. “Nursing.”

Robert considered me. He said to Mrs. Graham, “It’s true. She helped Dr. Philips to manage Booker this morning. I saw Mrs. Denton in the stationer’s shop. She was regaling the Marshalls with a full account.”

“You know that’s not possible. Bringing Peregrine back. God knows what thoughts or memories it might trigger,” Mrs. Graham added forcefully.

“He’s going to be sent here, whether we like it or not,” Robert retorted. “I’ve told you. They don’t have the staff to care for a dying man.”

“It will most certainly kill him to bring him out in this cold,” Jonathan put in.

His mother turned to him, her mind working.

It was an odd feeling, sitting in the midst of a family that was deciding the fate of one of its own as if he were a stranger. But it occurred to me that after all these years, he might seem to be.

“If he’s wrapped up well, and there’s a way to keep the air he breathes warmer, he could travel,” I said, doubt in my voice. “I wouldn’t recommend it, but if he’s not likely to be given proper care…”

“He’s in the asylum,” Timothy answered. “You must have seen it last night when you came from the station.”

Robert had pointed it out. As if I should know its significance. As if he was certain that Arthur must have told me about Peregrine.

“The messenger is waiting,” Robert reminded them quietly.

I was beginning to see that he had more influence in this family than a cousin ordinarily possessed.

Mrs. Graham bit her lip. “No,” she said finally. “It can’t be done.”

“Perhaps Dr. Philips could care for him,” I suggested.

“Absolutely not,” Mrs. Graham responded, not looking at me.

“Perhaps I should leave you alone while you decide what to do.” I started for the door, but Robert was blocking it.

“It might be the best course,” he said, ignoring me. “If you think about it.”

Mrs. Graham stared at him as if she could read his mind. And then she nodded once, as if she understood what he was suggesting.

“All right, then. Let them bring him here. If Miss Crawford will be kind enough to see to him until it’s over, I would be very grateful.”

“Mother-” Jonathan began.

“No, Robert’s right. As usual. This is perhaps the answer we were looking for.”

“That’s settled, then.” Robert shut the door.

Mrs. Graham said, “Timothy, if you don’t mind-I’d like a whiskey and water.” She sat down, as if her knees were about to give way. He went to the drinks table and poured a little whiskey into a glass and added the water. She drank it almost thirstily, as if she needed the support it offered.

Then she turned to me. “I have imposed on you, my dear. It is not something I would have wished. If I’d known-” She broke off, and looked at her empty glass. “When Peregrine arrives, we must do our best to make him comfortable. Timothy, would you ask Susan what is needed to open his room?”

He left us, and Jonathan said, “Mother, I hope to God you know what you are about.”

I asked, tentatively, why their son and brother was in an asylum. It was expected of me, and I didn’t want them to know what Dr. Philips had already told me.

“Because, my dear, he murdered someone. In cold blood, but not in his right mind.” The suffering on her face was real.

She hadn’t beaten about the bush. I hardly knew what to say. “That’s-it must have been a terrible time for you.”

“Peregrine’s never been-he had difficulties as a child, you see, but we never suspected-the truth is, you don’t suspect your own flesh and blood of-of having that sort of nature.” There was distress in her voice, a tightness that must have been a mixture of shame and of inexpressible shock as she looked back at the past.

Her emotional confession made me wonder if perhaps I’d been a little hasty in offering my services. She knew better than I just how safe her stepson was. But I couldn’t take back my offer now. The Colonel Sahib would tell me that retreat was the better part of valor, but I knew for a fact he’d never retreated in his life. I wasn’t about to spoil the family record now.

She must have read something in my expression because she said at once, “You needn’t fear him. They say he’s become quite docile-he’s accepted his fate.” She squared her shoulders, as if preparing herself to face what was to come. “Robert is right. They don’t have the means to care for my son as ill as he is. So many of the orderlies and the nurses went off to war that they’re fortunate at the asylum to be able to function at all.”

After that we waited in an uncomfortable silence, expecting the knock on the door at any time that would announce the arrival of the sick man. I thought-belatedly-that I must send a telegram to my parents. I wouldn’t be coming home as planned.

Finally, almost when we’d given it up for the evening, the door knocker sounded like the crack of doom.

I went out into the hall with Mrs. Graham, and she opened the door herself.

A man in a heavy coat stood there, and behind him were two stout men with a stretcher between them. Their breath steamed in the cold air.

On the stretcher lay a tall man, swathed in blankets.

Just then I heard him cough, and I knew the worst. His lungs were terribly congested. And the cold air during the journey had done them no good. Nor had standing there in the winter night.

The stretcher bearers were coming through the door, now, and somehow between them they managed the stairs, grunting and struggling every step of the way. I thought how difficult it must be for the man they jostled and tilted like an egg carried in a spoon, but he never complained.

I went up after them, but Mrs. Graham stayed below, talking to the third man.

Somehow Susan had managed to make a room ready, and I watched the stretcher bearers settle their burden in the bed, drawing up the sheets to his chin.

He lay there, exhausted, his face gray.

I went to the side of the bed as the two men left, and looked down at Peregrine Graham. As murderers went-and I was most certainly no authority-he didn’t appear to be any different from the dozen of pneumonia cases I’d dealt with on Britannic’ s next-to-last voyage.