The Enchanted Doll by Paul Gallico. Part 4.
Watch on KineScope.
Chapter 2: The Doll
I discovered more about Mary during my next few visits. Her name was Mary Nolan. When she was fifteen years old, she was in an accident. Her mother and father were killed and Mary was very badly hurt. The accident was the reason for her twisted leg.
Rose Callamit offered to look after Mary as there was no other person to look after the young girl. Rose always thought that Mary’s father was a rich man. Then she learned that there was only a small amount of money. After that she was unkind to Mary. She made her very unhappy.
Mary was never able to forget her leg. Her aunt seemed to say: ‘No man will love you. You will never get married and have children. No man wants a wife with a twisted leg.’
The years passed, and Mary began to believe her aunt. She stayed with her. She did what her aunt wanted her to do. She could see no reason to leave her aunt. So she lived an unhappy life, without hope.
Then Mary started to make the dolls.
Rose Callamit saw how lovely the dolls were. She soon realized that she could sell them for a lot of money. After she sold a few, she decided that Mary would work on them every day of the week, from morning until night.
Rose did not love Mary, but the girl produced hundreds of dolls over the years. Rose was happy to take the money for them. But now Mary was ill and Rose immediately said to herself, ‘Without Mary and the dolls, the money will end.’
But what was killing Mary? I still did not know.
I could see that she was afraid of her aunt. But it wasn’t that. And I couldn’t ask Mary, because her aunt was always with us. Mary found it difficult to say anything to me with Rose in the room.
I did not tell Mary that perhaps I could make her leg straight. It was more important to discover why she didn’t want to continue living.
I told Mary to stop working on the dolls, and I brought her some books and some chocolates. For ten days she seemed to get better.
During my next visit, she smiled at me for the first time.
‘That’s better!’ I said. I was very pleased to see her happy face. ‘You must leave the dolls alone for another ten days. I don’t want you to work. I want you to rest, sleep and read. Then we’ll see.’
But I could see that Rose was unhappy at these words.
When I called again, she was waiting for me in her room.
‘You don’t need to come any more, Doctor Amony,’ she said, coldly.
‘But Mary must not-‘ I started to say.
‘Mary is much better now,’ she said quickly. ‘Goodbye, doctor.’
My eyes went to the box in the corner of the room.
There were three new dolls lying on top of it.
Their faces were as lovely as ever, but they had the look of death on them.
Suddenly I was frightened for Mary. I knew that Rose Callamit was lying. I wanted to push this woman out of the way and crash through the door and see Mary. But I was a doctor. When doctors are told to leave, they have to go.
I still did not know what Mary’s problem was. But I guessed that Rose was asking another doctor to call.
So, sadly, I left. But I couldn’t forget Mary. I continued to worry about her in the days that followed.
Not long after this I became ill. It wasn’t much at first. But as the days passed it seemed to get worse. I visited a doctor friend.
‘I can find nothing wrong with your body,’ he said. ‘Perhaps you work too hard.’
But I knew that this wasn’t the reason.
I continued to get worse. I didn’t want to eat and I lost weight. I began to look thin and pale. I felt tired, but I didn’t sleep well at night. I sometimes dreamed that I saw Mary. She was calling to me for help, while Rose Callamit was holding her in her ugly arms.
I thought about Mary all the time. ‘I wasn’t able to help her,’ I thought.
‘She wanted me to help her and I did nothing.’