The Compassion Circuit Read Free

protecting arms around her.
    She said: “Oh, Hester, you are such a comfort. You know what I ought to do.” She paused, then she added miserably: “I know what he thinks—the doctor, I mean. I could see it. He just thinks I’m going to go on getting weaker and weaker until one day I’ll fade away and die. I said I’d sooner die, but I wouldn’t, Hester. I don’t want to die…”
    The robot rocked her a little, as if she were a child.
    “There, there, dear. It’s not as bad as that—nothing like,” she told her. “You mustn’t think about dying. And you mustn’t cry any more. It’s not good for you, you know. Besides, you won’t want him to see you’ve been crying.”
    “I’ll try not to,” agreed Janet obediently, as Hester carried her out of the room and up the stairs…
    The hospital reception-robot looked up from the desk.
    “My wife,” George said. “I rang you up about an hour ago.”
    The robot’s face took on an impeccable expression of professional sympathy.
    “Yes, Mr. Shand. I’m afraid it has been a shock for you, but as I told you, your house-robot did quite the right thing to send her here at once.”
    “I’ve tried to get on to her own doctor, but he’s away,” George told her.
    “You don’t need to worry about that, Mr. Shand. She has been examined, and we have had all her records sent over from the hospital she was in before. The operation has been provisionally fixed for tomorrow, but of course we shall need your consent.”
    George hesitated. “May I see the doctor in charge of her?”
    “He isn’t in the hospital at the moment, I’m afraid.”
    “It is—absolutely necessary?” George asked, after a pause.
    The robot looked at him steadily, and nodded, said, “She must have been growing steadily weaker for some months now.”
    George nodded.
    “The only alternative is that she will grow weaker still, and have more pain before the end,” she told him.
    George stared at the wall blankly for some seconds. “I see,” he said bleakly.
    He picked up a pen in a shaky hand and signed the form that she put before him. He gazed at it awhile without seeing it.
    “Will—will she have a good chance?” he asked.
    “Yes,” the robot told him. “There is never complete absence of risk, of course. But there’s a very good chance of complete success.”
    George sighed, and nodded. “I’d like to see her,” he said.
    The robot pressed a bell-push. “You may see her,” she said. “But I must ask you not to disturb her.
    She’s asleep now, and it’s better for her not to be awakened.”

    George had to be satisfied with that, but he left the hospital feeling a little better for the sight of the quiet smile on Janet’s lips as she slept.
    The hospital called him at the office the following afternoon. They were reassuring. The operation appeared to have been a complete success. Everyone was quite confident of the outcome. There was no need to worry. The doctors were perfectly satisfied. No, it would not be wise to allow any visitors for a few days yet. But there was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
    George rang up each day just before he left, in the hope that he would be allowed a visit. The hospital was kindly and heartening, but adamant about visits. And then, on the fifth day, they suddenly told him she had already left on her way home. George was staggered. He had been prepared to find it a matter of weeks. He dashed out, bought a bunch of roses, and left half a dozen traffic regulations in fragments behind him.
    “Where is she?” he demanded of Hester as she opened the door.
    “She’s in bed. I thought it might be better if—” Hester began, but he lost the rest of the sentence as he bounded up the stairs.
    Janet was lying in the bed. Only her head was visible, cut off by the line of the sheet, and a bandage around her neck. George put the flowers down on the bedside table. He stooped over Janet and kissed her gently. She looked up at him from anxious