The Gathering Storm Read Online Free PDF Page A

of purpose asserted itself,
he stepped down and strode to the door, and lifted the
knocker. As he was about to let it fall the door was
opened, Rennie stepped back in surprise, and a fan of light
spilled out.
    'Who is it? Is that you, Dr Harkness?' A woman's voice,
young and untutored.
    'No, it ain't.' Rennie stepped into the light and removed
his hat so that his face might be plainly seen.
    'Oh. Sir.' The maidservant, startled, lifting a candle-holder.
    'I am Captain Rennie, come from Portsmouth to see
Captain Hayter. May I come in?'
    'The house is quarantined, sir. I fear that—'
    'Who is it, Mary?' A man's voice, James Hayter's voice.
    'James?'
    And now James came forward into the glow of the light.
    'Good heaven, sir. It is you, I thought I heard your voice.'
He stepped past the girl. 'I will just take the light, Mary.
Return to the kitchen.' Standing now in the doorway: 'I
fear I must turn you away, sir. We are quarantined here.'
    'I see.' Rennie thought that his friend looked gaunt and
thin in the candlelight, and older than his years. 'Is it fever?
You have had fever in the house?'
    'Yes. Yes. Fever.' A single nod.
    'I am very sorry, my dear James. Had I known in course
I should not have come.' Looking into his face. 'Is
Catherine—'
    'Catherine is – she is recovered, a little. A bad bout, you
know, but she will come back from it.'
    'I am very sorry. Had I known—'
    'You could not know, sir.'
    'And your boy Rondo?'
    'We have lost him.'
    'Christ Jesu ...'
    'He died very quick, very sudden, when we had
thought ...'
    'My dear James. You poor fellow. I deeply regret intruding
on your grief—'
    'No, sir, do not apologise. I can guess why you have
come. I have not replied to the letters, and you have come
as an emissary of Their Lordships.'
    'Well, not quite. The port admiral.'
    'Admiral Hapgood?'
    'Aye.'
    'And you have another letter from him?'
    'I have, yes.' Bringing the sealed letter from the pocket
of his coat.
    James hesitated a moment, standing in the doorway, then
he came to a decision. Standing aside:
    'Sir, if you will take a risk – and I must iterate, there is
a small risk still – I will like you to come in, and sit with
me a minute or two in the library. I have not suffered from
the fever myself, nor have any of the servants, and the
library is in least warm – warmer than standing out here
in the night air.'
    'Thank you, James. Then I will come in.'
    He followed James into the library, where a fire glowed
in the grate and the air was pleasantly temperate after the
chill of the paved forecourt. James poured Madeira, stoppered
the blue decanter, and the two men sat before the
fire. Rennie gave his friend Admiral Hapgood's letter. James
read it through quickly, then put it aside.
    'I cannot go there, now.'
    'No, no, you must stay here until Catherine is better, in
course.'
    'I mean – I cannot take up the commission.' Glancing
at Rennie briefly, then staring into the fire.
    'Not take it up, James ... ?'
    'It means nothing to me now, d'y'see? I have lost my only
son ... and Catherine will not wholly recover before the
summer. Dr Harkness is of the opinion that she may never
get back all of her former strength. So you see – I cannot
possibly go away.'
    'In course that is how you feel, just at present. It is entirely
natural that you should. You have suffered a terrible loss,
a dreadful loss, and Catherine must now be your first
concern. But in a few weeks—'
    'I shall not go back.' James turned his glance again on
Rennie. 'I have made my decision.'
    'Well well, I will not press you now, my dear James. Not
at present.'
    They sat mute for several minutes, and drank their wine,
each buried in his own thoughts. The fire whispered and
settled, and occasionally sighed as a flame flared up, and the
glow flickered across their faces. At last, James:
    'I cannot erase it from my mind ...'
    'Nay, James, do not speak of it now, when it is so painful
to you.' Rennie, thinking to aid his friend by enjoining