Chapter 27 Chapter 27 Easter: Nora's Gift

The all-pervasive crowd of reporters withdrew, promising to come back the next day the court reopened.But Wright is still the same, and the townspeople are secretly snickering, angry, chattering, until the ears of the little Buddha alarm clock on Patricia's dressing table are ringing. Billy Ketchum became the town's hero by mistake. "Boys" stopped him on the street corner and called him brothers; he actually sold five more contracts for the insurance that he had stopped doing for a long time; Miss Tricia Wright's relationship details.These words, reaching Patricia's ears by Carmel Pettigrew (who had begun phoning "good friends"), caused Miss Wright to rush to the town at once, and Mr. Ketcham's office in Bluefield. The insurance company on the street grabbed Mr. Ketchum's collar with his left hand, and slapped Ketchum five times on the left side of his face with his right hand, leaving five finger marks on his white, tender and wet flesh.

"Why five blows?" asked Mr. Quin. Miss Wright was accompanied on this trip, and he watched appreciatively as she set out to clear her name. Miss Wright blushed. "What the hell," she said bitterly, "it was—no more, no less—revenge, that liar, braggart—" "If you're not careful," muttered Mr. Quin, "Carter Bradford is going to write another indictment against you--insult and battery this time." "I'll wait," Patricia said darkly. "But he can't write, he knows it very well!" Apparently Carter really knew, since nothing was heard of him doing anything about Patricia's court wrongdoing.

The town of Wright prepares for the Easter break.Bunton Department Store imported all kinds of clothing, spring clothes, leather shoes, leather bags, and underwear from New York; Sol Gaudi Men’s Store added two temporary employees to cope with the business in the store; the Lower Village Commercial Center was even more crowded with customers. Mr. Ellery Queen shut himself up in his lodgings on the top floor of the Wrights, and shut himself up at all times except for meals.If anyone came in to visit, they would definitely not be able to understand.Because, for an inexperienced person, he has done nothing but smoke countless cigarettes.He is always sitting in a chair by the window, gazing at the spring sky outside the window; or inside the house, walking like a motor vehicle with his head bowed and plopping.Oh, yes, if you look closely, you can see that there is a huge pile of notes on the desk--a messy pile, the papers are scattered here and there like withered autumn leaves, and Ellery's fiery wind really took them Blown away, leaving them lying crooked as abandoned and ridiculed.

It seems that there are no exciting reasoning results in that direction, and there are no other directions as well. The only one may be Nora's direction.There was something odd about Nora, who, under the pressure of her husband's arrest and trial, stood up so heroically that everyone took her behavior for granted.Even Hermione could only think about Nora's physical condition and how to take good care of the pregnant mother-to-be daughter; old Ludi took care of her in every possible way.She said women were women after all, made to bear children, so the less fuss about Nora's health, the more likely it was that both mother and child—Nora and the baby to be born—would be safe.

Eat simple but nutritious food, plenty of vegetables, milk and fruits, less loitering, moderate sugar, more walks, light exercise, other things will be taken care of by the merciful God.Rudy had often quarreled with Hermione about it, and had at least one well-remembered quarrel with Dr. Willoughby. However, Ludi's knowledge of the pathology of the mental system is limited after all.But although others knew better, only two of those close to Nora suspected that something was going to happen; and at least one of them was trying in vain to avert the catastrophe.Of these two people, one of them was Mr. Quinn, who could only wait and see; the other was Dr. Willoughby, who did his best to take care of everything that Nora neglected, including taking tonics, regular check-ups every day, Plus exhortations.

Nora had a sudden breakdown.The family had just returned from church on Easter Sunday when they heard Nora laughing in the room.Patricia, who was combing her hair downstairs at that time, was the one closest to Nora's room. She heard a strange element in Nora's laughter, and rushed into Nora's bedroom first.When she arrived at the bedroom, she found her sister curled up on the ground and shaking her head with a smile, but the color of her cheeks turned from red to purple and then to yellow; her eyes were frantic and full of tears, like a sea storm. Immediately the whole family arrived, dragging Nora to the bed and loosening her clothes.At this moment she kept laughing, as if the tragedy of her life was the greatest joke in the world.Ellery called Dr. Willoughby and, with the help of Patricia and Lola, calmed Nora's hysteria.

When the doctors arrived, they had stopped Nora from laughing wildly, but she was still trembling and looking around pale and frightened. "I don't—don't understand—" she gasped, "I'm—all right. So—everything... oh, it hurts." Dr. Willoughby threw everyone out of the bedroom, and remained alone in Nora's bedroom for fifteen minutes.When he came out, he said with a sad face, "I have to take her to the hospital, and I will arrange it." Hermione listened, and grabbed John tightly, and the two girls were close together, and neither of them said anything; but a large hand came around and patted them.

On this day, Wright Township General Hospital was understaffed, because it was Easter and it was Sunday, and the ambulance had not arrived after three quarters of an hour.And, as far as John could remember, it was the first time in his life that he had heard Dr. Willoughby curse—a long, loud figure; and when he had finished, he set his teeth and turned back to Norah. "Hermione, she'll be fine." Although John said so on the surface, his face was ashen.If Milo cursed, it meant that the situation was too bad! When the ambulance finally arrived, the doctor wasted no more time cursing.He quickly pushed Nora out of the house, left his car on the curb outside Wright's house, and personally accompanied Nora into the ambulance.The whole family glanced at Nora as the intern carried her downstairs on a stretcher. Her muscles twitched and each part had a different pattern, as if each part had a life of its own; her lips were contorted and her eyes were painful. Have milky white eyes.

Thank goodness Hermione didn't see the face; but Patricia did, and she said to Ellery in horror: "Ellery, she's frightened and in agony, she's frightened to death! Oh, Ellery, do you think she'll—" "We're going to the hospital," Ellery said. Ellery drove everyone to the hospital.There were no isolation wards at Wright General Hospital, but Dr. Willoughby cleared a corner of the women's surgery ward and put Nora in a corner bed.Family members were not allowed to enter the ward, and they had to wait in the waiting room at the end of the aisle.The waiting room looks cheerful with its Easter bouquets, but also sad with the smell of disinfectant.The smell made Hermione sick, so they made her lie down on a bench with her eyes closed.John walked back and forth, touched the flowers from time to time, and occasionally said how nice it was that spring was here again, and so on.The two daughters sat next to their mother, and Mr. Quinn sat next to the two daughters.Except for the sound of John's leather shoes on the worn floral carpet, there was no sound at all.

Dr. Willoughby rushed into the waiting room, and the scene changed: Hermione opened her eyes, John stopped walking, the girls and Ellery jumped up. "Not much time," panted the doctor. "Listen, Nora is weak, and she's always been a nervous kid, plus months of stress, anger, worry, New Year's parties, judgments, etc. from the poisoning have made her very debilitated, the situation serious……" "Milo, what exactly are you trying to say?" John grabbed his old friend's arm and asked nervously. "John, Nora is seriously ill. There is no need to hide from you and Hermione. She is very ill."

Dr. Willoughby turned, as if in a hurry to go. "Milo, wait!" Hermione yelled. "How about the child...?" "Hermione, she is going to give birth, and we must operate." "But—only six months!" "Yes," said Dr. Willoughby stiffly. "You'd better wait here, I have to get ready." "Milo," said John, "if you need anything—I mean—money, get someone—find the best—" "John, we're very lucky that this Easter, Henry Groble is visiting his parents in Slocum; he's the best obstetrician in the East, and a former classmate of mine. He's on his way now." "Milo—" Hermione was crying, but Dr. Willoughby was gone. Now, in the silent room, with the sun shining in and the Easter bouquets scented toward death, these men waited all over again.John sat down beside his wife and took her hand.They just sat there, both eyes fixed on the clock on the waiting room door as the seconds came and went and then turned into minutes.Lola flipped through a battered copy of Metropolis, picking it up and putting it down. "Patricia," Ellery said, "come here." John looked at him, Hermione looked at him, and Laura looked at him.Then Hermione and John looked back at the clock, and Lola went back to the magazine. "Where are you going?" Patricia's voice flickered with tears. "Go to the window, away from the family." Patricia followed him heavily to the farthest window, where she sat in a chair by the window and looked out.Ellery takes her hand: "say." She burst into tears: "Oh, Ellery—" "I know," he said gently. "Anything, it's better to say it than to keep it in your heart, isn't it? You can't tell them, because they have something on their own." He handed her a cigarette and held up a match, but she held the cigarette between her fingers without looking at it or at him.He smelled the fire between his fingers, and looked at them. "Speak out—" Patricia said bitterly. "Hey, why not? I really don't understand, Nora is lying there, the baby is about to be born prematurely, and Jim is in the cell a few streets away, and Mom and Dad are sitting there like two old people... old, Ellery , they are really old." "Yes, Patricia," Ellery murmured. "But we were so happy," Patricia choked up. "It's like a nightmare. It can't be us. We were—everything in town! Look at us now, disgraced and old and spit on." "Yes, Patricia," Ellery said again. "Every time I think about how this started...how did it start? Oh, I can't look forward to holidays happily ever after!" "holiday?" "Don't you understand? Every dreadful thing that ever happened in the past--it happened on a holiday! It's Easter--and Nora's lying on the operating table. When's Jim being arrested? Valentine's Day! When's Rosemary dying?" Yes, when was Nora seriously poisoned? New Years Eve! And Nora was sick, poisoned, at Christmas, and the last time was Thanksgiving..." Mr. Quinn looked at Patricia as if she were saying two and two equals five. "No, these things have been bothering me for weeks, and while I agree with that, it's a coincidence and means nothing else. No, Patricia..." "It even started," Patricia exclaimed, "it started on Halloween! Remember?" She stared at the cigarette in her hand, which was crumpled. "Ellery, things might have been different if we hadn't found those three letters in that Toxicology. Don't shake your head, it might have been different!" "Perhaps you have a point," murmured Ellery. "I'm shaking my head at my own stupidity now—" A shapeless thing, like sparks, jumped in his brain.He had had a similar experience - it seemed ages ago... but now the same thing happened again.Sparks faded away, leaving him an irritatingly cold ashes that revealed nothing. "You say it's a coincidence," Patric said more pointedly, "well, call it a coincidence, call it what you want—coincidence, fate, or fucking luck. But if last Halloween When moving the books, Nora happened to drop a few books, and the three letters wouldn’t come out, maybe they’re still stuck in those books today.” Mr. Quinn was about to point out that Nora's threat came not from the three letters, but from the person who wrote them; suddenly, the spark in his mind flickered again, and then disappeared, and he said nothing more. "That incident," sighed Patricia, "if that most insignificant incident that day had happened in a different way, maybe nothing would have followed. If Norah and I hadn't decided then to furnish Jim's study, If we hadn't opened the box of books—" "The box of books?" Ellery asked blankly. "I brought that crate up from the basement. When Jim and Nora got back from their honeymoon, Ed Hotchkiss went to the train station and pulled Jim's stuff back and piled it in the basement. Assuming I didn't get a mallet and screwdriver that day What about opening the box? Suppose I can't find the screwdriver? Or suppose I wait an extra week, or a day, or an hour... Ellery, what's the matter with you?" Mr. Quinn stood before her as if God was in judgment.There was terrible anger on his face, and Patricia was horrified to see it, and she recoiled against the window. "You mean," said Mr. Quin's perfectly composed voice, "that those books—those books that Nora dropped—are those books on the shelf in the living room?" He rocked her and she flinched under the pressure of his fingers. "Patricia, answer me! Didn't you and Nora move the books upstairs from the living room shelves to Jim's study that day? Are you sure they came from boxes in the basement?" "Of course I am," Patricia said tremblingly. "What the hell happened to you? The box was nailed shut, I opened it myself, and I carried the empty box back to the basement just a few minutes before you came in that night. , and other tools, wrapping paper, bent nails—” "This—it's unbelievable." Ellery said, grabbed a rocking chair near Patricia with one hand, and sat down heavily. Patricia was puzzled. "Ellery, I don't understand, what's wrong with that? So what?" Mr. Quinn did not answer immediately.He just sat there gritting his teeth, looking pale and growing paler.The beautiful line of his lips deepened and became firmer, and then the gray eyes flickered with confusion, but he quickly hid it—hid it almost as soon as it appeared. "So what—" He licked his lips. "Ellery!" Patricia shook him now. "Don't be so mysterious! Is there something wrong? Tell me!" "Wait a minute." She watched him, waiting.He just sat and murmured: "I wish I had known. But I can't... It's all fate. Fate brought me into that living room five minutes late. Fate kept you from telling me months earlier. Fate hid the most important truth!" "But Ellery—" "Doctor Willoughby!" They ran back to the waiting room.Dr. Willoughby had just rushed in, still in his surgical gown and cap, the visor wrapped around his neck like a scarf; there was blood on the gown but not on his cheek. "Milo?" Hermione was trembling. "How, how?" John hissed. "Speak up, doctor!" Laura called. Patricia hurried forward and grabbed the old man's thin arm. "Well……" Dr. Willoughby uttered a word in his hoarse voice and stopped.Then he gave the saddest smile and put his arms around Hermione's shoulders, the contrast between the tall and the short was so stark. "Nora gave you a real Easter gift...you're a grandma." "Grandma..." Hermione murmured. "Baby!" Patricia called. "Is it safe?" "Fine, fine, Patricia, a beautiful little girl. Oh, she's small—needs an incubator—but with proper care, she'll be fine in a few weeks." "That Nora," gasped Hermione, "my Nora." "How's Nora, Milo?" John asked. "Is she all right?" Lola asked. "Does she know?" cried Patricia. "Oh, Nora must be very happy!" Dr. Willoughby looked down at the gown and felt the stain of Nora's blood. "Damn it," he said, his lips trembling. Hermione screamed. "Gropper and I—we did everything we could. There was no way, we fought to save her, but she was too much to bear. Don't look at me like that, John..." The doctor waved his arms wildly. "Milo—" John's voice was weak. "She's dead, that's all!" After speaking, he ran out of the waiting room.