THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT It proved not difficult to re-establish the intimacy of the two companions, on the same footing and in the same degree as heretofore. The young clergyman, after a few hours of privacy, was sensible that the disorder of his nerves had hurried him into an unseemly outbreak of temper, which there had been nothing in the physician's words to excuse or palliate. He marvelled, indeed, at the violence with which he had thrust back the kind old man, when merely proffering the advice which it was his duty to bestow, and which the minister himself had expressly sought. With these remorseful feelings, he lost no time in making the amplest apologies, and besought his friend still to continue the care which, if not successful in restoring him to health, had, in all probability, been the means of prolonging his feeble existence to that hour. Roger Chillingworth readily assented, and went on with his medical supervision of the minister; doing his best for him, in all good faith, but always quitting the patient's apartment, at the close of the professional interview, with a mysterious and puzzled smile upon his lips. This expression was invisible in Mr. Dimmesdale's presence, but grew strongly evident as the physician crossed the threshold.
"A rare case," he muttered. "I must needs look deeper into it. A strange sympathy betwixt soul and body! Were it only for the art's sake, I must search this matter to the bottom."
It came to , not long after the scene above recorded, that the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, noon-day, and entirely unawares, fell into a deep, deep slumber, sitting in his chair, with a large black-letter volume open before him on the table. It must have been a work of vast ability in the somniferous school of literature. The profound depth of the minister's repose was the more remarkable, inasmuch as he was one of those persons whose sleep ordinarily is as light as fitful, and as easily scared away, as a small bird hopping on a twig. To such an unwonted remoteness, however, had his spirit now withdrawn into itself that he stirred not in his chair when old Roger Chillingworth, without any extraordinary precaution, came into the room. The physician advanced directly in front of his patient, laid his hand upon his bosom, and thrust aside the vestment, that hitherto had always covered it even from the professional eye. Then, indeed, Mr. Dimmesdale shuddered, and slightly stirred.
After a brief pause, the physician turned away.
But with what a wild look of wonder, joy, and horror! With what a ghastly rapture, as it were, too mighty to be expressed only by the eye and features, and therefore bursting forth through the whole ugliness of his figure, and making itself even riotously manifest by the extravagant gestures with which he threw up his arms towards the ceiling, and stamped his foot upon the floor! Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask how Satan comports himself when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom.
But what distinguished the physician's ecstasy from Satan's was the trait of wonder in it! |
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EL MDICO Y SU PACIENTE No fue difcil restablecer la intimidad de los dos compaeros, en el mismo estado y condicin que antes. El joven ministro, despus de unas cuantas horas de soledad, comprendi que el desorden de sus nervios le haba hecho incurrir en una explosin de ira, sin que en las palabras del mdico hubiera habido algo que pudiera disculparle. Se maravill de la violencia con que haba tratado al bondadoso anciano, cuando no haca ms que emitir una opinin y dar un consejo que eran parte de su deber como mdico, y que l mismo haba solicitado expresamente. Lleno de estas ideas de arrepentimiento, no perdi tiempo en darle la ms completa satisfaccin, y en suplicar a su amigo que continuase con su tarea y cuidados, que si no llegaban a restablecer completamente su salud, haban sido indudablemente parte a prolongar su dbil existencia hasta aquella hora. El anciano Roger accedi fcilmente, y continu su vigilancia mdica, haciendo cuanto poda en beneficio del ministro, con la mayor buena fe, pero saliendo siempre de la habitacin del paciente, despus de una entrevista facultativa, con una sonrisa misteriosa y extraa en los labios. Esta expresin era invisible en la presencia de Dimmesdale, pero se volva ms intensa cuando el mdico cruzaba el umbral.
—Un caso extrao!—murmuraba. Necesito escudriarlo ms profundamente. Rara simpata entre alma y cuerpo! Aunque no fuera ms que en beneficio de la ciencia, tengo que investigar este asunto a fondo.
Poco tiempo despus de la escena arriba referida, aconteci que el Reverendo Sr. Dimmesdale, al medioda, y enteramente de improviso, cay en profundsimo sueo mientras, sentado en su silln, estaba leyendo un volumen en folio que yaca abierto sobre la mesa. La intensidad del reposo del ministro era tanto ms notable, cuanto que era una de esas personas de sueo por lo comn ligero, no continuado, y fcil de interrumpirse por la menor causa. Pero su espritu no estaba tan hondamente aletargado, que le impidiera moverse en el silln cuando el anciano mdico, sin ningunas precauciones extraordinarias, entr en el cuarto. Chillingworth se dirigi sin vacilar a su enfermo amigo, y poniendo la mano en el seno de ste, ech a un lado el vestido que lo haba mantenido cubierto siempre, an a las miradas del facultativo.
Entonces fue cuando el Sr. Dimmesdale se estremeci y hasta se movi ligeramente.
Despus de una breve pausa el mdico se retir. Pero con qu feroz mirada de sorpresa, de alegra y de horror! Con qu siniestro placer, demasiado intenso para que pudiera hallar plena expresin en sus miradas y facciones, y que por lo tanto se esparci por toda la fealdad de su rostro y cuerpo, manifestndose por medio de extravagantes gestos y ademanes, ya levantando los brazos hacia el cielo, ya golpeando el suelo con los pies! Si alguien hubiera podido ver en aquel momento de xtasis al viejo Roger Chillingworth, no tendra que preguntarse cmo se comporta Satans cuando logra que se pierda un alma preciosa para el cielo y la gana para el infierno.
Pero lo que distingua el xtasis del mdico del que experimentara Satans, era la expresin de asombro que lo acompaaba. |
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