The Yellow Mark. On this Christmas day, Blake has missed too many hours of sleep.
London, very early on the morning of Christmas 1951 **
While Blake makes a first report via Septimus' telephone, Mortimer advises Kendal's teams not to touch any of the doctor's equipment: the annihilator*** is a good example of the potential dangerousness of the installations.
Then, finally, Blake and Mortimer are freed from their obligations. "Philip, are you able to drive?" the captain asks his friend in the hall. "I borrowed a car from the Yard, but I don't think it's safe for me to take the wheel."
"Yes of course." The professor takes the keys and opens the door. The winter night is biting cold and the professor opens his eyes wide, surprised. "Why, it snowed!" Indeed, it had snowed mightily while Mortimer was confined. London is covered in a thick, white coat.
And as Blake shows him his car - loosely "parked" across the roadway and the sidewalk, the doors still open - Mortimer, who sees no discomfort in the captain's movements, asks him: "Why wouldn't it be safe for you to take the wheel, Francis, if you drove here?"
"Hmm," Blake answers, sitting down at the front passenger side. "I'm running on adrenalin, but it won't last."
"Why? Are you hurt?" Mortimer looks more attentively at Blake, but nothing seems abnormal.
"No, no, nothing so serious."
Reassured, Mortimer starts the engine, begins his maneuver, and, once on the road, restarts the conversation. "So?"
But no answer reaches him. The professor casts a worried glance to his left. "Blake?"
"Yes? "
Arriving at an intersection, the professor stops and turns to his passenger, who is obviously not in his normal state.
Punch drunk. That's the word. The captain looks punch drunk. Yet there is a slight smile on his face.
In his whole life, Mortimer has only seen such an expression once. He was still at the Allan Glenn School, at the boxing club, and the winner in the seniors category had received a last blow that had left him dazed, but happy. Blake is a knocked-out winner.
"Francis?"
"Yes, Philip?" The sound of his name seems to reach the captain who comes out of his torpor for a moment.
Mortimer drives on again. "What happened, old chap?"
"Nothing, nothing. It's been almost three days since I last slept ..." The captain stifles a yawn and his diction becomes less precise. "... and when I collapse, it will be very fast."
"Three days!" exclaims Mortimer, swerving. His friend is actually sleep-deprived! Dead on his feet ! "With the week we had? Why?" ****
Blake takes a few seconds to answer, as if he has trouble grasping the question. "Well, you disappeared, then the Yellow Mark announced that you were in his hands, and sentenced to death, and I could not stand idly by." He explains, his words a bit slurred.
"But ... three days, Blake, you're completely mad!"
The captain lets out a little laugh. "Totally. Madly in love with you."
Mortimer jumps and turns to his passenger, who doesn't seem to realize the enormity of what he has just uttered. The captain is in a daze, struggling to keep his eyes open.
At this moment Mortimer understands all that his friend has suffered through to find him, the intensity of the emotion that animated him. In his normal state, Blake would never have said anything, and Mortimer feels a wave of tenderness and compassion surge through him. "Sleep Blake," he says, focusing on his driving. It would be unbecoming to question his friend further in this state of weakness. "You have a well-deserved rest now."
A few minutes later, when Mortimer parks in front of their home in Park Lane, Blake sleeps soundly.
The professor is just out of the car when a light turns on in the entrance hall, and the door opens. Nasir - who left the hospital shortly after Mortimer's disappearance – has been keeping watch upstairs for their arrival. He looks relieved to see the professor in good health. "Good evening Sahib."
"Good evening, Nasir. I'm glad to see you, I'll need your help." He opens the door on the passenger side, and when Nasir sees the inanimate body, he worries." The captain? "
"Is only asleep. Don't worry. The two of us should manage to get him upstairs."
Indeed, between the two of them, they manage to put Captain Blake to bed, while in a few words the professor tells Nasir about the events of the evening.
Then when they have finished their work: "Thank you, Nasir, go to bed, you seem to need it, too."
"Good night, Sahib," Nasir acknowledges, before leaving the room.
"Good night," Mortimer answers.
After the departure of his faithful servant, Mortimer lingers for a few moments. He contemplates the sleeping face of his friend Blake. He remembers the warmth of his touch. Just then he would like to reach out to his friend, but no. Blake is asleep. Blake needs to sleep.
What devotion on his part! Mortimer's heart tightens at the thought that if he had not been stunned by the lack of sleep, Blake would never have said anything. How many questions he has for his friend!
There are very few things that he himself would not do for Francis Blake. Even if he had never considered this possibility so far, this seems to include sliding into crime. This idea sends a delicious shudder through him.
Before he leaves his friend in the care of Morpheus, he leaves a note on the bedside table. "My dear Francis, when you wake up, come and find me, even if it's three o'clock in the morning and you have to get me out of bed." Whether or not Blake remembers their last exchang in the car, Mortimer does not want to let either of them doubt longer than necessary.
It is past one o'clock in the morning on Christmas Day, and the whole household is silent and asleep. Only Professor Mortimer is still awake in his room, wondering how - after all these emotions - he will manage to get to sleep.
* "Une histoire à dormir debout" means a tall story in French.
** See Yellow Mark. December 17th, the day Mortimer returns to London is a Monday. So we are in 1951.
*** named on the French version "l'éclateur", unnamed in the English translation
**** See the Yellow Mark, if since December 22th Blake did not sleep, from 19th to 21th the captain slept only three hours in 58 hours.