remnants of her lips; I knew that whatever reconstructive surgery I could manage there would be nothing more than two rubious lines of scarified flesh--nothing to what human lips were at all.
"All right," he glared at me. "Just do it."
I nodded at Andrew Saunders, and I picked up the enucleator--never letting myself think about what a cold term, what a nasty instrument it was--then inserted it like a pry lever. A moment later, the white, fishy heat-boiled globe that had been Ruth's brown right eye was cupped between my gloved fingers.
- 14-
A week later Ruth was conscious. It was twilight; the room was gray with shadows when I went to her sickbed in Saunders's office to check on her. Her brown mummy claw of a hand snatched at my white medical coat as I bent over her.
"You got to get em out Stuart, or go yourself." She stared hard up at me.
"You hearing this?" she asked. Her voice was more hiss than whisper, the result of her burnt lungs. Her lips had trouble making the words.
"Yes," I said. "But how?" I let Ruth's hand dawdle in the folds of fabric coating my chest.
"Send em to school—somewhere," she stopped to catch her breath. "Abby's smart. And they'll take Ellie, even if she's a cripple, to get Abby on board. There's not many places'll scruple at double tuition. You send ’em on to one of them schools in the city, or if old Andrew balks at that, one of the girls' seminaries in Connecticut or Massach--"she paused, and I heard her breath whistling in her throat.
"There now—easy," I soothed.
"You're a fool, Stuart Granville." It wasn't quite a yell; she couldn't manage that. But her good eye bored into me. "Don't you know now they're separated Regina can take ’em when she will? Don't you know as a spirit she's bound to the place? But she'll get stronger, and if she does, sure as Satan, she'll burrow down inside their minds. What then, Stuart. What then, henh?" She coughed, but she was too weak even to stifle it with her fist. I touched my hand to her mouth tenderly. "Andrew will never let them go--he'll say he hasn't got the money, and he'll resent me for interfering," I said. I stroked the cropped wiry mat of her hair.
"I'll tell you what then," she went on as if I hadn't spoken. "Regina will win. She'll get so strong that whether they're here inside the house or not, it'll be the same to her." She licked her lips. She didn't ask, but I poured from the pitcher and handed her the glass. She sucked the wax-coated paper straw briefly. "Thanks," she muttered. "You're a good nurse." We both smiled at that. Ruth's smile was the light in her good eye--her lips were too raw to stretch into something we all take for granted.
"I turned it over and over in my mind a thousand times. What else have I got to do--lying the livelong day in a bed? I think maybe Regina could only come through because the girls were separated. A body can't be in two places--two minds at the same time. And even a spirit might be bound by the same law."
I held the glass so she could sip at the straw and drink again.
"Don't wait, Stuart. If she gets too strong....I believe it was her plan all along, a way to get--not just out of the grave--but out abroad into the world. Think of it, the girls going out into public for the first time, why, if she gets enough of a hold on em, she'd sail right out the front door with which ever one was carrying her at the moment." Ruth closed her lids. Looking at the right one was like seeing a paper shade sucked half way through a broken window by a draught of wind: The wrinkled flesh sank, partly, into the empty space.
"Ruth, Ruth," I said, lightly squeezing the sensitive hand I took in mine, "but I'm nothing more than a hired man." I dropped her fingers, raked my hair. "Same as you and Gabriel. Do you think Saunders will listen to me? All he has to do is utter the word ‘expense,’ and I haven't a defense left in the world. How can I tell a man what he can afford or
"All right," he glared at me. "Just do it."
I nodded at Andrew Saunders, and I picked up the enucleator--never letting myself think about what a cold term, what a nasty instrument it was--then inserted it like a pry lever. A moment later, the white, fishy heat-boiled globe that had been Ruth's brown right eye was cupped between my gloved fingers.
- 14-
A week later Ruth was conscious. It was twilight; the room was gray with shadows when I went to her sickbed in Saunders's office to check on her. Her brown mummy claw of a hand snatched at my white medical coat as I bent over her.
"You got to get em out Stuart, or go yourself." She stared hard up at me.
"You hearing this?" she asked. Her voice was more hiss than whisper, the result of her burnt lungs. Her lips had trouble making the words.
"Yes," I said. "But how?" I let Ruth's hand dawdle in the folds of fabric coating my chest.
"Send em to school—somewhere," she stopped to catch her breath. "Abby's smart. And they'll take Ellie, even if she's a cripple, to get Abby on board. There's not many places'll scruple at double tuition. You send ’em on to one of them schools in the city, or if old Andrew balks at that, one of the girls' seminaries in Connecticut or Massach--"she paused, and I heard her breath whistling in her throat.
"There now—easy," I soothed.
"You're a fool, Stuart Granville." It wasn't quite a yell; she couldn't manage that. But her good eye bored into me. "Don't you know now they're separated Regina can take ’em when she will? Don't you know as a spirit she's bound to the place? But she'll get stronger, and if she does, sure as Satan, she'll burrow down inside their minds. What then, Stuart. What then, henh?" She coughed, but she was too weak even to stifle it with her fist. I touched my hand to her mouth tenderly. "Andrew will never let them go--he'll say he hasn't got the money, and he'll resent me for interfering," I said. I stroked the cropped wiry mat of her hair.
"I'll tell you what then," she went on as if I hadn't spoken. "Regina will win. She'll get so strong that whether they're here inside the house or not, it'll be the same to her." She licked her lips. She didn't ask, but I poured from the pitcher and handed her the glass. She sucked the wax-coated paper straw briefly. "Thanks," she muttered. "You're a good nurse." We both smiled at that. Ruth's smile was the light in her good eye--her lips were too raw to stretch into something we all take for granted.
"I turned it over and over in my mind a thousand times. What else have I got to do--lying the livelong day in a bed? I think maybe Regina could only come through because the girls were separated. A body can't be in two places--two minds at the same time. And even a spirit might be bound by the same law."
I held the glass so she could sip at the straw and drink again.
"Don't wait, Stuart. If she gets too strong....I believe it was her plan all along, a way to get--not just out of the grave--but out abroad into the world. Think of it, the girls going out into public for the first time, why, if she gets enough of a hold on em, she'd sail right out the front door with which ever one was carrying her at the moment." Ruth closed her lids. Looking at the right one was like seeing a paper shade sucked half way through a broken window by a draught of wind: The wrinkled flesh sank, partly, into the empty space.
"Ruth, Ruth," I said, lightly squeezing the sensitive hand I took in mine, "but I'm nothing more than a hired man." I dropped her fingers, raked my hair. "Same as you and Gabriel. Do you think Saunders will listen to me? All he has to do is utter the word ‘expense,’ and I haven't a defense left in the world. How can I tell a man what he can afford or
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