The Fruit of the Tree

By: Wharton, Edith

John Amherst's step was singularly noiseless. The nurse, sensitive by nature and training to all physical characteristics, was struck at once by the contrast between his alert face and figure and the silent way in which he moved. She noticed, too, that the same contrast was repeated in the face itself, its spare energetic outline, with the high nose and compressed lips of the mover of men, being curiously modified by the veiled inward gaze of the grey eyes he turned on her. It was one of the interests of Justine Brent's crowded yet lonely life to attempt a rapid mental classification of the persons she met; but the contradictions in Amherst's face baffled her, and she murmured inwardly "I don't know" as she drew aside to let him approach the bed. He stood by her in silence, his hands clasped behind him, his eyes on the injured man, who lay motionless, as if sunk in a lethargy. The matron, at the call of another nurse, had minced away down the ward, committing Amherst with a glance to Miss Brent; and the two remained alone by the bed.After a pause, Amherst moved toward the window beyond the empty cot adjoining Dillon's. One of the white screens used to isolate dying patients had been placed against this cot, which was the last at that end of the ward, and the space beyond formed a secluded corner, where a few words could be exchanged out of reach of the eyes in the other beds."Is he asleep?" Amherst asked, as Miss Brent joined him.Miss Brent glanced at him again. His voice betokened not merely education, but something different and deeper-the familiar habit of gentle speech; and his shabby clothes-carefully brushed, but ill-cut and worn along the seams-sat on him easily, and with the same difference."The morphine has made him drowsy," she answered. "The wounds were dressed about an hour ago, and the doctor gave him a hypodermic.""The wounds-how many are there?""Besides the hand, his arm is badly torn up to the elbow."Amherst listened with bent head and frowning brow.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B092PG7MY7
• ISBN13: 9798738396298
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 1.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.0" x 10.0"