Free This Other Eden by Marilyn Harris Page B

was
playing tricks on her. But when the lips moved a second time, and when she
leaned over the face and felt the softest of breath, she raised up, crying,
"Jenny, she's alive!" Not waiting for the woman at the door, Dolly
ran back into the front room, retrieved the flask of brandy, came hurriedly
back, gently lifted the girl's head, and forced the liquid down her throat.
     
    No
matter that it came up again. The strong spirit had accomplished its purpose.
Marianne's eyes fluttered open, then closed immediately, but at least they had
opened and the soft breath was increasing along with a restlessness in her body
as her nerves responded to the damage done to her back.
     
    Again
Dolly shouted for Jenny's assistance. The woman in the doorway looked up as
though toward a miracle, then flew into action. While Jenny supported the limp
head, Dolly forced the entire flask of brandy down Marianne's throat. Wise
enough in the ways of medicine, Dolly knew that total inebriation was the
girl's only hope. There was a vast amount of work to be done, repairing this
body, and it would be best if Marianne suffered it all in a semi-blissful state
of complete drunkenness.
     
    When
the flask was emptied, Dolly ordered Jenny to find more, and a moment later,
the now-smiling woman returned with Hartlow's full keg.
     
    About
three-quarters of an hour later Marianne lay back on the pillow, her eyes
fluttering open, her lips moving wordlessly, a sufficiently glazed look on her
face.
     
    The
two women worked steadily for over four hours. Dolly lost count of the number
of times she sent Jenny for a bucket of fresh water, only to return it to her a
few moments later blood red with orders to fetch more.
     
    She
used an entire bed sheet of linen, tearing small strips, dabbing gently at the
lacerated back, then applying a thin coat of camphor to staunch the bleeding.
     
    It
was approaching six o'clock when at last she stepped back from the couch, her
work done. Marianne lay stripped on fresh linen, again on her stomach, her long
hair freshly washed and pinned up on her head, clean bandages on her scraped
wrists, her back a lacework of strips of camphor-soaked muslin, each following
the contours of a single lash.
     
    Dolly
dragged a low stool close to the bed, and sat wearily. Jenny hovered behind her.
Gently she patted the thin arm crooked about the silent face.
     
    "Marianne?"
she whispered.
     
    There
was no response. The wide blue eyes simply stared sideways out of their pain at
the small room.
     
    "Marianne?"
Dolly tried again—"Can you hear me?"
     
    Concerned,
Jenny asked, '"Why won't she speak?"
     
    But
Dolly lifted a finger and shushed her. Softly she ordered her to "Prepare
some broth. Hot, Jenny, if you don't mind."
     
    As
soon as she was gone, Dolly again leaned close to the silent face. Carefully
she moved her hand before the wide-awake eyes. They did not Wink. Puzzled, she
sat back. There was discernible rising and falling to the pitiful back. Breath
was moving through her lungs. She was alive. And yet-
     
    In
the room beyond, Dolly heard voices, some neighbor no doubt, inquiring for the
village. She heard Jenny's whispered reply, comforting, for Dolly had permitted
Jenny to believe that all was well.
     
    Dolly
tried a third time. "Marianne?"
     
    About
ten minutes later, Jenny appeared with a steaming mug. Carefully the two women
lifted Marianne, held her upright, trying to avoid reopening the cuts on her
back. Jenny held her head while Dolly placed the mug to her lips. Marianne
drank, not all of it, but enough, her head still dragging and heavy.
     
    With
tenderness they returned her to her stomach, arranged her arms beside her head,
denied her a pillow for fear of suffocation, and throughout it all, the opened
lips made no attempt to form words, the eyes mere shadows, recording nothing,
revealing nothing.
     
    Apparently
Jenny could not tolerate the frightening emptiness. "Will she be all
right, Dolly?" she