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834
THE FAITH HEALER
Beeler. Nonsense!
Martha. If you're so wise, why do you think Michaelis petered out?
Beeler.Could n't stand the strain. Bit off more'n he could chaw, in the healin' line.—Never looked at Rhody.
Martha. Looked at her till he could n't see nothin' else, in heaven or earth or the other place.
Beeler. You're dead wrong. I tell you he never looked cross-eyed at Rhody, nor Rhody at him. Doctor's more in her line.—By the way, did you give the Doctor a snack to stay his stomach?
Martha. Done nothin' but feed him all night long. Seems to be mighty exhaustin' work to tend a sick baby.
Beeler. Does he think it'll live?
Martha. Not likely. But he thinks he will, if fed reg'lar.—What do you call that trance the baby's in?
Beeler. Doctor calls it comy. Spelled it out for me: c-o-m-a, comy.
(Beeler goes out on the porch and disappears. Martha continues her task of tidying up the room. Michaelis enters from the stair, carrying his hat and a foot-traveller's knapsack. Martha regards him with curiosity, tempered now by feminine sympathy with the defeated.)
Martha. Good morning, sir.
Michaelis. (Tonelessly.) Good morning.
Martha. (Pointing at his hat and knapsack.) Hope you ain't off. Don't mind sayin' the way you acted was human decent, sendin' for Doctor when you found the baby wa' n't dead, an' you wa' n't no healer any more.
Michaelis. Is it any better?
(Martha makes a disconsolate gesture, implying that there is little or no hope. Michaelis turns away with bent head. Annie enters from the kitchen. Michaelis holds out his hand to her, and she takes it with shy hesitation.)
Martha. Guess you'd like to know where Rhody is, would n't you? She's where she's been all night,—out yonder with the sick folks.
Michaelis. What is she doing there?
Martha. Feedin' 'em, first off, an' then heart'nin' of 'em up. That's a purty hard job, I reckon; but it's the way o' women when they feel like she does.
(Michaelis sinks in a chair, drawing Annie to him. Mrs. Beeler's bell rings; Martha goes out by the hall door. Annie watches his bent head in silence for a moment.)
Annie. Are you ever going up again, on the rope?
Michaelis. (Not remembering.) On the rope?
Annie. You know … the magic rope.—Ain't you ever going to climb up in the sky again?
Michaelis. (Recollecting.) Never again, Annie. Never again.
Annie. Have you got the rope still?
Michaelis. No, I have lost it.
Annie. Won't you ever find it?
Michaelis. It can only be found by some one who will know how to use it better than I did.
Annie. How better?
Michaelis. By some one who can climb up, toward the sun and the stars, and yet never leave the earth, the cities, and the people.
Annie. Then he'll have to take them up with him. (Michaelis nods for yes.) Gracious! (She runs to the porch door to meet Rhoda, who appears outside.) Cousin Rhoda! What do you think he says about the magic rope?
Rhoda.What, Annie?
Annie. He says that first thing you know, everything will be going up in the air, towns and people and everything.
Rhoda. Does he?
Annie. (Runs out into the hall, balancing her arms above her head and gazing up laughingly.) Dear me! That will be very tippy!
(Rhoda enters.)
Michaelis. You are here! The fear came over me, just now—
Rhoda. I could not go until I had told you the truth—about myself—about us.
Michaelis. You will tell me the whole truth, and I will tell you the same. But that will be for later. Come! Come away with me, into the new life.
Rhoda. A life rooted in the failure of all that life has meant to you from the beginning!
Michaelis. Until yesterday I did not know what my life was.
Rhoda. You do not know that, even yet. You know it now less than ever—what your life is, what it means to you, what it means to the world.
Michaelis. To the world it can mean nothing. That is ended. But to us it