Does he perceive the change
in his situation? Has he already forgotten about Healthful House, the
pavilion in which he was a prisoner, and Gaydon, his keeper? It is
highly probable. The past has presumably been effaced from his memory
and he lives solely in the present.
In my opinion, even on the deck of the _Ebba_, in the middle of the
sea, Thomas Roch is still the helpless, irresponsible man whom I
tended for fifteen months. His intellectual condition has undergone no
change, and his reason will return only when he is spoken to about
his inventions. The Count d'Artigas is perfectly aware of this mental
disposition, having had a proof of it during his visit, and he
evidently relies thereon to surprise sooner or later the inventor's
secret. But with what object?
"Thomas Roch!" I exclaim.
My voice seems to strike him, and after gazing at me fixedly for an
instant he averts his eyes quickly.
I take his hand and press it. He withdraws it brusquely and walks
away, without having recognized me, in the direction of Captain Spade
and Engineer Serko.
Does he think of speaking to one or other of these men, and if they
speak to him will he be more reasonable than he was with me, and reply
to them?
At this moment his physiognomy lights up with a gleam of intelligence.
His attention, obviously, has been attracted by the queer progress
of the schooner. He gazes at the masts and the furled sails. Then he
turns back and stops at the place where, if the _Ebba_ were a steamer,
the funnel ought to be, and which in this case ought to be belching
forth a cloud of black smoke.
Pages:
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87