Sat, May 19 2012
The wolf had gained strength and Rebecca had brought him upstairs to Phileas’ bed where she knew he would be more comfortable as well. Far from that of the rat-like doctor who was being watched by their new partner, who was surely a friend as well. While Jules, Passepartout and the second doctor were working on the sample and to be sure of the antidote results before giving it to Phileas, no matter what his form. They worked a part of the night and waited for the results until the morning. Rebecca was staying seated at the bedside all the night to watch over the wolf and had been happy to see it fall asleep so much, that she had herself succumbed to it. On the other hand her rest was not long as a low knock came to the door. She walked to the door, as the three men were there with a syringe full of a silver liquid. Rebecca looked on the sleeping form of her cousin lying on his bed with a comforter keeping him warm. Next she stepped out to close the door and to watch over them.
“What’s that? What will it do to him?” She asked standing in front of them ready for a fight if the answers were not satisfactory to her. Jules and Passepartout looked on her as Jules explained, “It’s a formula having silver nitrate as a basis. It worked on the sample, just as we are sure that was what made his back react as it did when the transformation came. Rebecca, we cannot be sure if it will work that way in his system, but it’s clear we need to try something and day light is the better time. If you prefer we can awaken him and ask for his consent before doing it.” He said in knowing his friend did not to want stay in that state just as Passepartout had heard his master say he wanted stay alive and regain his sanity. Rebecca closed her eyes and let them walk in the cabin. Knowing what they were to do, yet not willing be a witness she climbed down the stairs and looked on their position, happy that since they had left London they had not found bad weather and straightened the course and handled the Aurora to busy herself.
It was hours since they had given the injection when the two men walked downstairs and Passepartout looked on her, “For now Master is asleep, Master Jules is stay with him.” He said to her in seeing she was worried sick. He proposed to cook a meal for everybody then take his turn to sit at Phileas’ bedside. But in the next hours, the sick man began to moan in his sleep, as the fever had taken the better of him. His state deteriorated by again several hours, tossing and delirium had taken the second plan. The third level came by the next night, as to be far better. Phileas began to yell in his sleep, as they had been almost forced to tie him to his bed to avoid seeing him hurt someone or himself when the sick man developed convulsions as if his body were to split open on the height. Rebecca had to bear the pain all of that, as her cousin was fighting to stay alive .The transformation should had occurred but rather than happening it had only brought the human form to go though more pain as if some devilish force was to eat him from the inside. Her own heart was broken, being able to do nothing to ease Phileas’ state, or rather the solution to take was only more difficult to her to agree. All what they could do was to wait and try to keep the fever from killing him as other disasters could do that just as well to the ravaged state of her cousin.
By the next morning, the screaming stopped. Rebecca worried hurried to get the cabin, as she was to fear the worst. Passepartout and Jules did the same, as the doctor who had been the last one to stay with Phileas. The doctor got out of the cabin as Rebecca grabbed him by the collar and pushed him to the wall, “You killed him!” She growled ready to do the same to the doctor too. The man lifted his hand top stop her, “No, he’s asleep. Just go inside and look for yourself. He’s fine now, all is finished.” Rebecca looked on Jules and Passepartout who nodded and stepped in side the cabin to see that effectively the man was peacefully asleep without any more fever. Rebecca released the man’s coat and walked inside to look for herself. She touched him, kissed his forehead, listened to his breath and heart beat. He was alive and really much as himself. She sat on the chair and cried her worry out as she had kept it all inside since they had found him again.
Later that day, The Aurora stopped once again in London, but this time she stayed grounded to her usual landing spot. Sir Jonathan Chatsworth had been asked to come with a cellular cab as well as with several of his men to take away the both doctors of the darkness league, but one with extenuating circumstances for services rendered had lower charges held against him. Once the Aurora was cleansed of the vermin, the new friend and helper refused to leave, saying he would only once he was sure the sick man would be back on his feet, after a full recovery. They agreed gladly to the moral support and new friendship. In his cabin the Aurora’s owner was staying asleep. Passepartout happy and full of hope readied a light meal in the hope that his master would be up for that on his awakening.
So a tray in hand, he walked to the stair followed by his a bit more rested friend who had the same wish as he did, to see how Phileas Fogg was doing. They walked in the cabin on quiet steps and looked on the man lying on his back asleep in his nightshirt and fresh bedclothes keeping him warm. Phileas felt their presence and open his eyes, first to see the ceiling of his cabin, and enjoy the comfort of his bed. How long it had been since he had awakened in his own bed and felt warm and dry. He looked on bedsides and feet to see Rebecca, Jules and Passepartout watching over him. “Hello, Phileas!” Rebecca said to him, in coming to take his hand in hers as to reassure herself that it was true, her shouts awaken Phileas to know that all that bad dream was over. Phileas smiled at her, as Jules took as step forward to shake his hand too, “Hello, Fogg!” he said and put something on his chest over the bedclothes, “I believe, it’s yours.” He said and released his hand for him to take and look at the gold item, “My bracelet, Thank you, Verne. I was sure that was lost.” He said and Rebecca took to look on with a certain spark in her eyes and put that back on his left wrist. As Jules and Passepartout watched her do that, curiosity got the better of the young Frenchman, “I hope Fogg that someday you will explain to me about that.” He said as Phileas shared a gaze with Rebecca as she released his wrist after the bracelet was back where it belonged, “Someday perhaps, Verne.” He said and Passepartout managed to get his master to eat the soup he had brought, as the man was still on an empty stomach, for more than a day.
A bit later, as Rebecca and Jules as well as Passepartout had been sent to bed by Phileas feeling really much as himself and willing a bit of free time out of all the attention they had given him. Phileas had managed to dress in his usual standard, in a fresh dark blue suit. He climbed down the stairs to found a stranger asleep in his armchair. Phileas moved to sit on the bench where he could sit down and look on the man. The memory was vivid, the tramp of the dock, he was also the one of the next cage. The man awakened in a start feeling the presence, “Hmm! Oh! It’s you. You seem in a better state than last time I saw you.” Phileas smiles, “Yes, it seems. How about coffee?” The tramp looked on him as the man looking so much as a gentleman with his face cleanly shaven and being freshly bathed and so richly dressed. He forgot his observations of the man at the mention of the coffee, when was the last time he had gotten to drink one and one in a so rich décor, “Coffee, yes, please.” He said, a bit amazed that such a man would ready the coffee for himself as well as for a stranger in a such state as his. Whilst Phileas got up and walked to the kitchen to handle that and came back a moment later with not only a pot of fresh and hot coffee but a small breakfast for two as well.
Phileas sat the tray on the table and took back his place, “It seems the Aurora’s ice box and food keeper seriously needs to be refurnished, I brought what I could find.” He said and poured a cup of coffee to his guest as well as for himself, letting the other man take a plate staying amazed by the gentleman’s behaviour to him. After all, he was only a tramp having seen the hell and having agreed to help to be sure of getting out of there. The toast was hot and buttered with jam in a jar, hot eggs, and some fruit. The man happy to see food, he readied his plate and hurried to get a bite as he had not seen so nice a breakfast in a really long time and there the gentleman had said he in needed to refurnish his kitchen with food. Phileas watched the man finish, keeping his smiles to himself. He put a bit in his plate too, but left the most for his guest. They both had eaten, when the man asked if he could take more, Phileas only smiled in giving permission, “Go on, I’m done, I will only get more coffee.” The man was really happy to get more and ate as much as was there for him.
The meal was soon over as Phileas finished his second cup of coffee and the man emptied his second plate, “That was really good, sir. Thank you. Now I suppose I should get back…” He said getting up ready to leave, in feeling now far out of his class. Phileas looked on him and put down his cup slowly, “You’re not forced to leave, you were the one robbed, you know. I suppose you would say good-bye to the others before you do. And I feel, I’m the one in need of thanking you.” The tramp looked on the gentleman, “You… No… I only done what any other would have done, sir.” Phileas smiled and got up, “No, I doubt that. There are a lot of people who are not caring towards others and it’s not because they would not have the means to do it. And there are some others as yourself who work with what limited means they have. I’m really glad you helped us.” He said in get out his hand for a handshake, no matter the other man’s dirty state. The tramp agreed and shook that gentleman’s hand as he asked him, “If there is anything I could do to help you in return… I would be glad to do that.” The tramp looked on him and tried to avoid answering, “No… It’s really best that I leave…” Phileas shook his head and tried to make the man talk a bit more since he did not want to see him go back to the way he was living. Life in the gutter is not a life.
“I could surely do better than only give you some money that you would finish by drink with rather than use to eat. You certainly have not always lived this way; to feed or dress yourself from what people want well to give you; to sleep under the stars in the wind, the cold and under the rain or the snow. What happened to make you go through that?” he asked friendly to the man. The tramp turned and looked on the gentleman, “Do you really want to know or is it only a way for you to make a clear conscience? Because I’m sure you already know what makes a man fall so low, that can be gambling, drinking, drugs…” Phileas smiled as the man stopped, “I know what can bring a man to the gutter, I almost found myself there, years ago. What interests me is what brought you there to find a way to help you.” The man looked on the gentleman, as he was sure he would go on his word but for himself he was not to trust in that.
“How could you help a man who lost all what he was to have? All was not my fault, but I took that hardly, really hard since everybody was hard on me. An accident at the dock, a man killed, another hurt, and me who was shown my way. Next, I fell in the bottle since I was to feel responsible for a damn broken winch. I didn’t find work after that, as a black sheep, identified and the finger pointed even by my friends. So I drank more. The backers put the hand on my house. My wife left me, and took our children away. If I was only sure of the when and of the now, I could tell you how long I have lived that way or how old are my children now, or even since when I didn’t see them.” Phileas looked on him and show him the free armchair, “Yes, working condition are horrible. God knows that my friend tries to improve that with the public’ opinion about it with his writing. I cannot make much about your fellows, but I could help if you’re interested in helping me to do that.” The tramp looked on Phileas, “So you’re serious, you would help me to find a job and to settle back?”
Phileas put his hand on the other man’s shoulder, “Yes, in countryside there is always a need for extra hands, you would not get a judge’s salary, but at least you would be lodged, feed… and cleaned and dressed.” He said and let the man sit back in the armchair and looked on his dirty hand to catch the napkin and wiped his hand on that as the would-be-worker-to-the-estate got the remainder of the coffee from the coffee pot. Phileas looked next on the man putting the napkin back on the table and rose to touch the man’s clothes again, “I will see if my valet has had enough rest by now to help you with a bath.” He said and the man agreed as Phileas walked to the stairs as the man complained about the idea, “Leave him alone. Perhaps I haven’t seen a bathtub in a long while, but I still know what do in it! I certainly don’t need help!” Phileas turned and looked on him with an eyebrow lift, “I don’t doubt about that, I only believe that two to scrub and scrub all that filth away will be more effective than letting you work alone. And surely, will get the whole room to be less affected by that.” He said and before the man can throw on him anything coming from the tray, Phileas was on his way for the workshop.
Upstairs, Phileas heard voices as far from taking rest Rebecca, Jules and Passepartout were in Rebecca’ cabin. He walked there too in hearing Jules say to her, “Rebecca, we know… You were in close… contact with… Fogg… You could have been infected… It would only help you and be sure.” The young writer said nervously and surely blushing, Phileas thought stopping his steps to listen more, as that mind had kept his young friend from sleep. Rebecca voice came in answer, “Are you sure that it will not be as plain for me than as it was for Phileas?” Passepartout came next, “No, surely not since if you was infected it not seem to be to the same level. Well Miss Rebecca, you not seem being a wolf yet.” Rebecca’s sigh was heard from the hall, “Right give me that! Next we will all forget that and go forward!” she said exasperated and Passepartout made the injection to her. “It will not be totally finish Rebecca, we still need to look on some sample of Fogg’s again for…” Jules said to be stopped as a well know presence manifested itself by a clearing of throat.
They all looked as Phileas was to stand in the cabin’ entrance, “Sample? My arm will soon look as Gruyere with all the holes I have in it.” he said as Passepartout finished his work on Rebecca and Jules took the tray they had get ready to meet him. “Only a bit of blood again, Fogg. And some other little things...” Jules said in becoming again anxious to talk about what they should need from his friend as sample. Phileas took off his coat and put it on Rebecca’s bed and rolled a sleeve to give his arm, “There bloodsucker, take what you need!” Rebecca smiled hearing her cousin’ words as Jules got the syringe, “Don’t worry, I need only a bit to see if you are still affected. It would also help me if you could run up and down the stairs two times.” Phileas looked on him, “Bloody Hell! Run on the stairs! Twice! What the hell! Do you want see if I can still heal a broken leg in a night?” He said disapproving the plan entirely, as Passepartout clarified while to get a low moan of pain from Rebecca as he took the syringe out with too harsh of a motion, “No, Master, we only need sweat. Sorry, Miss Rebecca.”
Phileas sent a frown to his domestic, as everybody was to know he would do even if that only for his own sake as Jules was to finish his own work and Phileas got up. He went toward the door as Jules stopped, “Wait a second, Fogg.” He said in putting the syringe on the tray and in getting a small glass blade, “Could you… Just… Spit on that… Before go?” Phileas looked on the blade and on Jules, as Rebecca was fighting not to laugh. Phileas sighed and wiped his forehead and eyes with his hand as their request for get him to run in the stair would not be needed to get him to perspire, “Damn it, Verne. The last time I did that in public, the slap come so fast I didn’t see it coming. I was six years old and I still remember as if it were yesterday.” He said and Jules insisted, “I’m sorry about that Fogg, but at least we didn’t have you tied on a medical table to get the sample we need and I’m sure you want know that all of that is over too.”
Phileas took the blade and walked out without adding a word as his friend had found his weak spot. Rebecca had gotten over her amusement; until Passepartout hurried to get the small bowl he had put on that tray and raced behind his master, “Master! There stay a thing!” Rebecca heard him said out her door. She didn’t hear what come after that as Passepartout talked in a low tone. Rebecca shared a gaze with Jules in hearing Phileas answer to the matter that Passepartout could have asked of him in a hushed voice, “Are you sure you absolutely need that! There is surely a means to…” he said on a tone that was to show cost a great deal. Passepartout’s voice came next as he had forget to keep his voice low, “Master, you need, not only for you but also for Miss Rebecca.”
Phileas sighed and took the bowl in his hand, as that was far to please him. And he walked to his cabin after had left Passepartout the glass blade he had used. Jules excused himself to Rebecca and joined Passepartout to the workshop to make the first verification on both first samples. Rebecca stayed alone in her cabin but heard pacing and cursing in the next one. Even if Phileas’ words were to come from between clenched jaws in a low tone, she was sure to hear him through the part of both of their cabins. Rebecca smiled to herself, and made a few improvements to her clothes and stepped out without making noise before knocking quietly on the next door to propose the help of a generous hand.
“So, Passepartout and I gave the antidote to Rebecca. We were all happy to see that she had not one of the symptoms we had feared about before going on. We also got from Fogg all the samples we needed and we had asked of him, even one we were sure he would never agree to furnish us. That permitted us to be sure he was totally cured, even if we ourselves were unsure about the results we got. At least, the dreadful transformation into a wolf never occurred again. For the tramp, we know that his name was James Farnsworth. Passepartout had been said to help him to bath and shave him. And Fogg had even given one of his old suits to him saying it would be a shame for a clean man to have to wear dirty clothes. When Passepartout asked to his master if he should wash these dirty and worn out clothes, Fogg’ answer was not better than what he said when the questioned about shining my own old boots on a certain time of our friendship, Yes, Passepartout get the fire to do the work. Once Farnsworth was back to a human form, if I can say, we did travel back to Shillingworth Magna, as Fogg was to feel a bit uneasy for the way we had all left on the last visit, but at least the news the lord of the manor had to announce to the manor staff would surely made them avoid the anger they would held against him. But that news would surely wait for another time, for now I’m too happy to sleep once again in my guestroom in the country estate, and… I’mmmmmmmmm really… Ttttttttttired…. Rrrrright now….”
End.
End of Chapter Seventeen
Chapter 16 | Chapter 17