CHAPTER XX 267
Mr. Rochester drew back the thick curtain, drew up the holland blind, let in all the daylight he could; and I was surprised and cheered to see how far dawn was advanced: what rosy streaks were beginning to brighten the east. Then he approached Mason, whom the surgeon was already handling.
" Now, my good fellow, how are you?" he asked. " She ' s done for me, I fear," was the faint reply.
" Not a whit!-- courage! This day fortnight you ' ll hardly be a pin the worse of it: you ' ve lost a little blood; that ' s all. Carter, assure him there ' s no danger."
" I can do that conscientiously," said Carter, who had now undone the bandages; " only I wish I could have got here sooner: he would not have bled so much-- but how is this? The flesh on the shoulder is torn as well as cut. This wound was not done with a knife: there have been teeth here!"
" She bit me," he murmured. " She worried me like a tigress, when Rochester got the knife from her."
" You should not have yielded: you should have grappled with her at once," said Mr. Rochester.
" But under such circumstances, what could one do?" returned Mason. " Oh, it was frightful!" he added, shuddering. " And I did not expect it: she looked so quiet at first."
" I warned you," was his friend ' s answer; " I said-- be on your guard when you go near her. Besides, you might have waited till to- morrow, and had me with you: it was mere folly to attempt the interview to-night, and alone."
" I thought I could have done some good."