The Dead Are Silent | Page 4

Then the light touched Franz's feet, crept up over his body to his face,
and rested there. The coachman had set the lamp on the ground beside
the head of the unconscious man. Emma dropped to her knees, and her
heart seemed to stop beating as she looked into the face before her. It
was ghastly white; the eyes were half open, only the white showing. A
thin stream of blood trickled down from one temple and ran into his
collar. The teeth were fastened into the under lip. "No--no--it isn't
possible," Emma spoke, as if to herself.
The driver knelt also and examined the face of the man. Then he took
the head in both his hands and raised it. "What are you doing?"
screamed Emma, hoarsely, shrinking back at the sight of the head that
seemed to be rising of its own volition.
"Please, Miss--I'm afraid--I'm thinking--there's a great misfortune
happened--"
"No--no--it's not true!" said Emma. "It can't be true!--You are not hurt?

Nor am I--"
The man let the head he held fall back again into the lap of the
trembling Emma. "If only some one would come--if the peasants had
only passed fifteen minutes later."
"What shall we do?" asked Emma, her lips trembling.
"Why, you see, Miss, if the carriage was all right--but it's no good as it
is--we've got to wait till some one comes--" he talked on, but Emma did
not hear him. Her brain seemed to awake suddenly, and she knew what
was to be done. "How far is it to the nearest house?" she asked.
"Not much further, Miss--there's Franz-Josef's land right there. We'd
see the houses if it was lighter--it won't take five minutes to get there."
"Go there, then; I'll stay here--Go and fetch some one."
"I think I'd better stay here with you, Miss. Somebody must come; it's
the main road."
"It'll be too late; we need a doctor at once."
The coachman looked down at the quiet face, then he looked at Emma,
and shook his head.
"You can't tell," she cried.
"Yes, Miss--but there'll be no doctor in those houses."
"But there'll be somebody to send to the city--"
"Oh, yes, Miss--they'll be having a telephone there, anyway! We'll
telephone to the Rescue Society."
"Yes, yes, that's it. Go at once, run--and bring some men back with you.
Why do you wait? Go at once. Hurry!"
The man looked down again at the white face in her lap. "There'll be no

use here for doctor or Rescue Society, Miss."
"Oh, go!--for God's sake go!"
"I'm going, Miss--but don't get afraid in the darkness here."
He hurried down the street. "'Twasn't my fault," he murmured as he ran.
"Such an idea! to drive down this road this time o' night."
Emma was left alone with the unconscious man in the gloomy street.
"What shall I do now?" she thought "It can't be possible--it can't." The
thought circled dizzily in her brain--"It can't be possible." Suddenly she
seemed to hear a low breathing. She bent to the pale lips--no--not the
faintest breath came from them. The blood had dried on temple and
cheek. She gazed at the eyes, the half-closed eyes, and shuddered. Why
couldn't she believe it?... It must be true--this was Death! A shiver ran
through her--she felt but one thing--"This is a corpse. I am here alone
with a corpse!--a corpse that rests on my lap!" With trembling hands
she pushed the head away, until it rested on the ground. Then a feeling
of horrible alone-ness came over her. Why had she sent the coachman
away? What should she do here all alone with this dead man in the
darkness? If only some one would come--but what was she to do then if
anybody did come? How long would she have to wait here? She looked
down at the corpse again. "But I'm not alone with him," she thought,
"the light is there." And the light seemed to her to become alive,
something sweet and friendly, to which she owed gratitude. There was
more life in this little flame than in all the wide night about her. It
seemed almost as if this light was a protection for her, a protection
against the terrible pale man who lay on the ground beside her. She
stared into the light until her eyes wavered and the flame began to
dance. Suddenly she felt herself awake--wide awake. She sprang to her
feet. Oh, this would not do! It would not do at all--no one must find her
here with him. She seemed to be outside of herself, looking at herself
standing there on the road, the corpse and the light below her; she saw
herself grow into strange, enormous proportions, high up into the
darkness. "What am I waiting for?"