Free The Favorite Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham by W. Somerset Maugham Page B

her on the bed. She was moaning and crying. She was almost insensible. He gave her a hypodermic injection. He was hot and exhausted when he went upstairs again.
    “I’ve got her to lie down.”
    The two women and Davidson were in the same positions as when he had left them. They could not have moved or spoken since he went.
    “I was waiting for you,” said Davidson, in a strange, distant voice. “I want you all to pray with me for the soul of our erring sister.”
    He took the Bible off a shelf, and sat down at the table at which they had supped. It had not been cleared, and he pushed the tea-pot out of the way. In a powerful voice, resonant and deep, he read to them the chapter in which is narrated the meeting of Jesus Christ with the woman taken in adultery.
    “Now kneel with me and let us pray for the soul of our dear sister, Sadie Thompson.”
    He burst into a long, passionate prayer in which he implored God to have mercy on the sinful woman. Mrs Macphail and Mrs Davidson knelt with covered eyes. The doctor, taken by surprise, awkward and sheepish, knelt too. The missionary’s prayer had a savage eloquence. He was extraordinarily moved, and as he spoke the tears ran down his cheeks. Outside, the pitiless rain fell, fell steadily, with a fierce malignity that was all too human.
    At last he stopped. He paused for a moment and said:
    “We will now repeat the Lord’s prayer.”
    They said it and then, following him, they rose from their knees. Mrs Davidson’s face was pale and restful. She was comforted and at peace, but the Macphails felt suddenly bashful. They did not know which way to look.
    “I’ll just go down and see how she is now,” said Dr Macphail.
    When he knocked at her door it was opened for him by Horn. Miss Thompson was in a rocking-chair, sobbing quietly.
    “What are you doing there?” exclaimed Macphail. “I told you to lie down.”
    “I can’t lie down. I want to see Mr Davidson.”
    “My poor child, what do you think is the good of it? You’ll never move him.”
    “He said he’d come if I sent for him.”
    Macphail motioned to the trader.
    “Go and fetch him.”
    He waited with her in silence while the trader went upstairs. Davidson came in.
    “Excuse me for asking you to come here,” she said, looking at him sombrely.
    “I was expecting you to send for me. I knew the Lord would answer my prayer.”
    They stared at one another for a moment and then she looked away. She kept her eyes averted when she spoke.
    “I’ve been a bad woman. I want to repent.”
    “Thank God! Thank God! He has heard our prayers.”
    He turned to the two men.
    “Leave me alone with her. Tell Mrs Davidson that our prayers have been answered.”
    They went out and closed the door behind them.
    “Gee whizz,” said the trader.
    That night Dr Macphail could not get to sleep till late, and when he heard the missionary come upstairs he looked at his watch. It was two o’clock. But even then he did not go to bed at once, for through the wooden partition that separated their rooms he heard him praying aloud, till he himself, exhausted, fell asleep.
    When he saw him next morning he was surprised at his appearance. He was paler than ever, tired, but his eyes shone with inhuman fire. It looked as though he were filled with an overwhelming joy.
    “I want you to go down presently and see Sadie,” he said. “I can’t hope that her body is better, but her soul-her soul is transformed.”
    The doctor was feeling wan and nervous.
    “You were with her very late last night,” he said.
    “Yes, she couldn’t bear to have me leave her.”
    “You look as pleased as Punch,” the doctor said irritably.
    Davidson’s eyes shone with ecstasy.
    “A great mercy has been vouchsafed me. Last night I was privileged to bring a lost soul to the loving arms of Jesus.”
    Miss Thompson was again in the rocking-chair. The bed had not been made. The room was in disorder. She had not troubled to dress herself, but wore a dirty