Fingersmith

She moved her lips, and swayed on her feet. Then all at once she cried out: Thieves!'

I jumped at the sound. Dr Christie looked up at her. 'That's enough,' he said.

'Remember your tongue. What have you upon it?'

'Thieves! Devils!'

'Your tongue, Miss Wilson! What do we keep upon it? Hmm?'

She worked her mouth; then said, after a minute:

'A curb.'

'That is right. A curb. Very good. Draw it tight. Nurse Spiller— ' He turned and called the nurse to him, and spoke to her quietly. Miss Wilson put her hands to her mouth, as if to feel for a chain; and again, she caught my eye, and her fingers fluttered, and she seemed ashamed.

I should have been sorry for her, at any other time; but for now, if they had laid her and ten more ladies like her down upon the floor and told me my way out was across their backs, I'd have run it with clogs on. I waited only until Dr Christie had finished giving his instructions to the nurse, and then I licked my mouth and leaned and said,

'Dr Christie, sir!' He turned and came towards me.

'Mrs Rivers.' He took my hand about the wrist, not smiling. 'How are you?'

'Sir,' I said. 'Sir, I— '

'Pulse rather rapid,' he said quietly, to Dr Graves. Dr Graves made a note of it. He turned back to me. 'You have hurt your face, I am sorry to see.'

Nurse Spiller spoke before I could.

'Cast herself to the floor, Dr Christie,' she said, 'while in the grip of her fit'

'Ah, yes. You see, Mrs Rivers, the violence of the condition in which you arrived here.

I hope you slept?'

'Slept? No, I— '

'Dear, dear. We cannot have that. I shall have the nurses give you a draught. You shall never grow well, without slumber.'

He nodded to Nurse Bacon. She nodded back.

'Dr Christie,' I said, more loudly.

'Pulse quickening, now,' he murmured.

I pulled my hand away. 'Will you listen to me? You have got me here, by mistake.'

'Is that so?' He had narrowed his eyes and was looking into my mouth. 'Teeth sound enough, I think. Gums may be putrid, however.— You must tell us, if they start troubling you.'

Tm not staying here,' I said.

'Not staying, Mrs Rivers?'

'Mrs Rivers? For God's sake, how can I be her? I stood and saw her married. You came to me, and heard me speak. I— '

'So I did,' he said slowly. And you told me how you feared for your mistress's health; how you wished she might be kept quiet and free from harm. For sometimes it is easier— is it not?— to ask for assistance in behalf of another, than for ourselves? We understand you, Mrs Rivers, very well.'

264

'I am not Maud Rivers!'

He raised a finger, and almost smiled.

'You are not ready to admit that you are Maud Rivers. Hmm? That is quite a different thing. And when you are ready to admit to it, our work shall be done. Until then— '

'You shan't keep me here. You shan't! You keep me, while those swindling villains— '

He folded his arms. 'Which swindling villains, Mrs Rivers?'

'I am not Maud Rivers! My name is Susan— '

'Yes?'

But here, for the first time, I faltered.

'Susan Smith,' I said finally.

'Susan Smith. Of— where was it, Dr Graves? Of Whelk Street, Mayfair?'

I did not answer.

'Come, come,' he went on. 'That is all your fancy, is it not?'

'It was Gentleman's fancy,' I said, thrown off. 'That devil— !'

'Which gentleman, Mrs Rivers?'

'Richard Rivers,' I answered.

'Your husband.'

'Her husband.'

'Ah.'

'Her husband, I tell you! I saw them married. You may find out the vicar that did it.

You may bring Mrs Cream!'

'Mrs Cream, the lady you lodged with? We spoke at length with her. She told us, very sadly, of the melancholy temper that stole upon you, in her house.'

'She was speaking of Maud.'

'Of course.'

'She was speaking of Maud, not me. You bring her here. You show her my face, see what she says then. Bring anyone here that has known Maud Lilly and me. Bring Mrs Stiles, the housekeeper at Briar. Bring old Mr Lilly!'

He shook his head. 'And don't you think,' he said, 'your own husband might be supposed to know you, as well as your uncle? And your maid? She stood before us, and spoke of you, and wept.' He lowered his voice. 'What had you done to her, hmm, to make her do that?'

'Oh!' I said, twisting my hands together. ('See her colour change now, Dr Graves,' he said softly.) 'She wept, to trick you! She's nothing but an actress!'

An actress? Your maid?'

'Maud Lilly! Don't you hear me? Maud Lilly and Richard Rivers. They have put me here— they have cheated and tricked me— they have made you think me her, and her me!'

He shook his head again, and drew close his brows; and again, he almost smiled. Then he said, slowly and very easily:

'But, my dear Mrs Rivers, why should they go to the trouble of doing that?'

I opened my mouth. Then I closed it. For, what could I say? I still supposed that if I only told him the truth, he would believe it. But the truth was I had plotted to steal a lady's fortune; that I had made myself out a servant, when I was really a thief. If I had 265

not been so afraid, and so tired, and so bruised from my night in the pads, I might have thought up a clever story. Now I could not think, at all. Nurse Bacon rubbed her hands and yawned. Dr Christie still watched me, with a humouring expression on his face.

'Mrs Rivers?' he said.

'I don't know,' I answered at last.

Ah.'

He nodded to Dr Graves, and they began to move off.

'Wait! Wait!' I cried.

Nurse Spiller came forward. 'That's enough from you,' she said. 'You are wasting the doctors' time.'

I did not look at her. I watched Dr Christie turn from me, and saw beyond him the pale old lady, her fingers still chafing at her mouth; and the sad-faced woman with her hair pulled all before her eyes; and Betty, the idiot girl, her lip gleaming with sugar; and I grew wild again. I thought, 'I don't care if they put me in a prison for it! Better a prison, with thieves and murderesses, than a madhouse!' I said,

'Dr Christie, sir! Dr Graves! Listen to me!'

'That's enough,' said Nurse Spiller again. 'Don't you know what busy men the doctors are? Don't you think they got better things to do than hear all your nonsense? Get back!'

I had stepped after Dr Christie and was reaching for his coat.

'Please, sir,' I said. 'Listen to me. I haven't been perfectly straight with you. My name ain't Susan Smith, after all.'

He had made to shake me off. Now he turned a little to me.

'Mrs Rivers,' he began.

Susan Trinder, sir. Sue Trinder, of— ' I was about to say, Lant Street; then knew that of course I must not say it, for fear it should lead the police to Mr Ibbs's shop. I closed my eyes and

shook my head. My brain felt hot. Dr Christie drew himself from my hand.

'You must not touch my coat,' he said, his voice grown sterner.

I clutched it again. 'Only hear me out, I beg you! Only let me tell you of the terrible plot I was made to be part of, by Richard Rivers. That devil! He is laughing at you, sir!

He is laughing at all of us! He has stolen a fortune. He has fifteen thousand pounds!'

I would not let go of his coat. My voice was high, like the yelp of a dog. Nurse Spiller got her arm about my neck, and Dr Christie put his hands over mine and worked free my fingers. Dr Graves came to help him. At the feel of their hands, I shrieked. I suppose I really seemed mad, then; but it was only through the awfulness of having said nothing but the truth, and being thought to be deluded. I shrieked, and Dr Christie got out his whistle, just like before. There was a bell rung. Mr Bates and Mr Hedges came running, in their brown-paper cuffs. Betty bellowed.

They put me back in the pads. They let me wear the gown and boots, however; and they gave me a basin of tea.