Fanny, equal to the emergency, asked Miss Henley for her handkerchief,
joined her own handkerchief to it, and began to bandage the wound. "Try
if his pulse is beating," she said quietly to her mistress. The foreman
made himself useful by examining the suicide's pockets. Iris thought
she could detect a faint fluttering in the pulse. "Is there no doctor
living near?" she cried. "Is there no carriage to be found in this
horrible place?"
The foreman had discovered two letters. Iris read her own name on one
of them. The other was addressed "To the person who may find my body."
She tore the envelope open. It contained one of Mr. Vimpany's cards,
with these desperate words written on it in pencil: "Take me to the
doctor's address, and let him bury me, or dissect me, whichever he
pleases." Iris showed the card to the foreman. "Is it near here?" she
asked. "Yes, Miss; we might get him to that place in no time, if there
was a conveyance of any kind to be found." Still preserving her
presence of mind, Fanny pointed in the direction of "The Spaniards"
inn. "We might get what we want there," she said. "Shall I go?"
Iris signed to her to attend to the wounded man, and ascended the
sloping ground. She ran on towards the road. The men, directed by
Fanny, raised the body and slowly followed her, diverging to an easier
ascent. As Iris reached the road, a four-wheel cab passed her. Without
an instant's hesitation, she called to the driver to stop. He pulled up
his horse. She confronted a solitary gentleman, staring out of the
window of the cab, and looking as if he thought that a lady had taken a
liberty with him. Iris allowed the outraged stranger no opportunity of
expressing his sentiments. Breathless as she was, she spoke first.
"Pray forgive me--you are alone in the cab--there is room for a
gentleman, dangerously wounded--he will bleed to death if we don't find
help for him--the place is close by--oh, don't refuse me!" She looked
back, holding fast by the cab door, and saw Fanny and the men slowly
approaching. "Bring him here!" she cried.
"Do nothing of the sort!" shouted the gentleman in possession of the
cab.
But Fanny obeyed her mistress; and the men obeyed Fanny. Iris turned
indignantly to the merciless stranger. "I ask you to do an act of
Christian kindness," she said. "How can you, how dare you, hesitate?"