Read Ebook: Nacogdoches by Blake Robert Bruce

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Ebook has 979 lines and 34319 words, and 20 pages

Why shouldn't the "shock" of which the nurse had spoken have destroyed my memory? The more I considered it the more promising it looked. It was the easiest of parts to play; I had done a lot of amateur theatricals; and any one could look a fool and act one.

I had a first rehearsal of this stunt--as Jimmy would have called it--with the nurse; and the result quite came up to expectations. I reckoned that she would tell the doctor, and it was clear she had done so when he came to me next morning.

I looked as vacant and worried as I thought necessary.

"You remember being on her, don't you?"

"The nurse told me so. Was I?"

"Yes, of course. She struck a mine; you remember that?"

I affected to try to remember, stared round the room, and then helplessly at him and gestured feebly.

"You were picked up at sea. Does that help you?"

It wasn't likely to, and I shook my head.

"She came from Harwich--England, you know, and was blown up."

"Harwich, England," I murmured, as if the words had no meaning for me.

He muttered something in Dutch under his breath. "Does your head trouble you much?" and he smoothed my hair, feeling my head all over carefully.

He looked rather grave for a second or two and then smiled reassuringly. "It will be all right in time, quite right. You are suffering from shock; but you needn't worry. No worry. That's the great thing. A day or so will put you all right, Herr--let's see, what's your name?"

But I didn't bite. "Is it Lassen? The nurse said so."

"Don't you know it yourself?" he asked very kindly.

"No." That was true at any rate. "How did you find it out?"

I played that lost memory for all it was worth and with gorgeous success. I became a "case" for the doctors who trotted along to interview me as a sort of interesting freak and held learned discussions over me. All this gave me such ample practice that I became perfect in the part.

This threatened complications; but I had no intention to remain, so I prepared to get away, sent out for a ready-made suit of clothes--ye gods, what a beautiful misfit!--and was going to leave the hospital to see what I could do at the German Embassy about a passport, when my luck propeller snapped and I saw myself nose-diving to the ground.

A nurse brought me a card and said some one was waiting to see me in the doctor's room. The card told me it was a certain Herr Heinrich Hoffnung, 480b, Ugenplatz, Berlin!

It was just rotten luck, for it meant the collapse of the Lassen show. The instant he clapped eyes on me he'd know I wasn't the real Simon Pure; and it might be the dickens of a job to get across the frontier.

As I thought of Nessa and what the delay might mean to her, I was mad. But I couldn't shirk the meeting; so after giving him time to learn all about my "case" from the doctor, I went down, wondering what ill wind had blown the fellow to Rotterdam at such a moment, and what the dickens would happen when I was no longer Lassen.

THE FIRST CRISIS

As I opened the door the doctor jumped up to help me to a chair, and the man from Berlin gave a start of surprise and then stared at me keenly; but whether he recognized me or not, I couldn't decide.

"You've picked up wonderfully, Herr Lassen, wonderfully!" said the doctor. "I declare no one would guess from your appearance what you have been through."

"And I feel as well as I look, doctor, thanks to you and the nurses," I replied. "I owe my life to the doctor here," I added, turning to the stranger.

"You are Johann Lassen?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "That's what they tell me."

"I told you how we know," put in the doctor, adding to me: "I have explained the nature of your case to Herr Hoffnung. He has come to take you to Berlin."

It was clearly time to bring matters to a head, so I turned to the man. "Have I ever had the pleasure of seeing you before?" I asked, with a perplexed and rather bewildered look.

I could have shouted for joy, but I put my hand before my eyes that he should not see the delight in them.

"You will wish to see Herr Lassen alone, of course," said the doctor. "You will bear in mind all that I have told you, I trust."

Hoffnung crossed to the door with him and the two stood speaking together in low tones for a minute, giving me an opportunity to observe my visitor. He was rather a good-looking man of about thirty, well-dressed and smart, and I placed him as somebody's secretary. Certainly a decent sort and not too quick-witted.

"First let me congratulate you on your marvellous escape, Herr Lassen," he said when the doctor had gone.

"The doctor tells me he quite despaired at one time of saving your life. But he says you are quite fit to travel. Do you agree with that?"

"It's all the same to me. I feel all right."

"It is rather urgent that I should return to Berlin as soon as possible. Do you think you could manage the journey to-day?"

"I don't see why not. But--er--it's a bit awkward, you know. Are you sure I'm your man?"

He glanced at his watch and started. "It's just possible that we could catch the express, and we can talk in the train; that is, if you haven't many preparations to make."

"Then I should like to go."

"Can I go without any papers or anything?"

"With me, certainly. I have everything necessary, and will explain on the journey."

And go we did to my infinite satisfaction.

In the cab to the station he was silent and thoughtful, and as my one consuming desire was to get across the frontier before anything could happen, I didn't worry him with any questions. It was all clear sailing at the station. Whoever Hoffnung might be, there was no doubt about his having authority. He secured a special compartment, although the train was crowded, and did all possible for my comfort.

"That's the best of travelling officially," he said pleasantly as he settled himself in the seat opposite me, while the train ran out of the station. "Now, you asked me a question at the hospital which I did not answer--whether I'm sure you're Lassen. Frankly, I'm not; and the more I look at you the more I'm puzzled."

"It's a bit awkward. I don't wish to be somebody else."

"Do you feel fit to talk? The doctor warned me against worrying you; but there are things I should enormously like to know."

"You're not half so keen as I am," I told him truthfully. "If I am Lassen, what am I; where do I live; have I any friends anywhere; isn't there any one who knows me anywhere? It's such a devil of a mess."

"There's one thing certain, my friend, you're a German; and as for the rest you'll find plenty of people in Berlin who'll know you. The von Reblings, for instance. Which reminds me I have the Countess's letter;" he opened his despatch case and handed me a sealed envelope.

But I had already told the doctors that I could not write and could not read handwriting, although I had fumbled out some large print. That had been one of the specialities of my peculiar aphasia. So I just smiled vacantly and shook my head. "Will you read it to me?" I asked.

He agreed after some little demur, and a very charming letter it was. The Countess addressed me as "My dear Johann," wrote in the familiar thee and thou, said how anxious she and Rosa--especially Rosa, it seemed--had been about me; urged me to hurry to Berlin as soon as possible, where, of course, I should be the most welcome guest in the world, and signed herself "Your affectionate aunt, Olga von Rebling."

"Doesn't that remind you of anything?" asked Hoffnung.

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