The books looked at him and remained aloof knowing so much that he did not know, tired and sated with their knowledge of life.
He went upstairs. On the first landing he met Millie. They talked in whispers.
"Oh, she doesn't know any of us. She can't live through the night."
He went suddenly stepping on tip-toe as though he were afraid of waking somebody.
The long dim bedroom was green-shaded and very soft to the tread. Beside the bed Katherine was sitting; nearer the window in an armchair Henry's father; on the far side of the bed, against the wall like images, staring in front of them, the Aunts; the doctor was talking in a low whisper to the nurse, who was occupied with something at the wash-hand stand--all these figures were flat, of one dimension against the green light. When Henry entered there was a little stir; he could not see his mother because Katherine was in the way, but he _felt_ that the bed was terrible, something that he would rather not see, something that he ought not to see.
The thought in his brain was: "Why are there so many people here? They don't want _all_ of us. . . ."
Apparently the doctor felt the same thing because he moved about whispering. He came at last to Henry. He was a little man, short and fat. He stood on his toes and whispered in Henry's ear, "Better go downstairs for a bit. No use being here. I'll call you if necessary."
The Aunts detached themselves from the wall and came to the door. Then Henry noticed that something was going on between his sister Katherine and the little doctor. She was shaking her head violently. He was trying to persuade her. No, she would not be persuaded. Henry suddenly seemed to see the old Katherine whom through many years now he had lost--the old Katherine with her determination, her courage, her knowledge of what she meant to do. She stayed, of course. The others filed out of the door--Aunt Aggie, Aunt Betty, his father, himself.
They were down in the dining-room, sitting round the dining-room table. Millie had joined them.
Aunt Aggie looked just the same, Henry thought--as thin and as bitter and as pleased with herself--still the little mole on her cheek, the tight lips, the suspicious eyes.
"Dear, dear, I wouldn't have thought you had the application."