"Can you give me
anything
to drink?
Kipling - Poems
"That's idolatrous bad Art," he said, drawing the book towards himself.
"From the anatomy of the angels, it has been made in Germany. " He opened
in mechanically, and there leaped to his eyes a verse printed in red
ink--
The next good joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of three,
To see her good Son Jesus Christ
Making the blind to see;
Making the blind to see, good Lord,
And happy we may be.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
To all eternity!
Dick read and re-read the verse till his turn came, and the doctor
was bending above him seated in an arm-chair. The blaze of the
gas-microscope in his eyes made him wince. The doctor's hand touched the
scar of the sword-cut on Dick's head, and Dick explained briefly how he
had come by it. When the flame was removed, Dick saw the doctor's face,
and the fear came upon him again. The doctor wrapped himself in a
mist of words. Dick caught allusions to "scar," "frontal bone," "optic
nerve," "extreme caution," and the "avoidance of mental anxiety. "
"Verdict? " he said faintly. "My business is painting, and I daren't
waste time. What do you make of it? "
Again the whirl of words, but this time they conveyed a meaning.
"Can you give me anything to drink? "
Many sentences were pronounced in that darkened room, and the prisoners
often needed cheering. Dick found a glass of liqueur brandy in his hand.
"As far as I can gather," he said, coughing above the spirit, "you call
it decay of the optic nerve, or something, and therefore hopeless. What
is my time-limit, avoiding all strain and worry? "
"Perhaps one year. "
"My God! And if I don't take care of myself? "
"I really could not say. One cannot ascertain the exact amount of injury
inflicted by the sword-cut. The scar is an old one, and--exposure to the
strong light of the desert, did you say? --with excessive application to
fine work? I really could not say? "
"I beg your pardon, but it has come without any warning. If you will
let me, I'll sit here for a minute, and then I'll go. You have been very
good in telling me the truth.
