“How long ago was that?”
“A week, sir,” said the girl. “I’ve been with her ever since she took the ’ouse a week ago.”
“Well,” he said, “you’d better go for the doctor at once.”
The words were hardly out of his mouth, when the girl gasped:
“I see her lids twitch! She’s a’comin’ to!”
It appeared that she was right. Some perceptible emotion stirred under the wax-like surface; the flush of pink deepened in the rounded cheeks. The suddenness of the change confirmed Gilead in his suspicion. “These instant recoveries,” he thought, “are characteristic of the complaint.”
He backed towards the door.
“She mustn’t find me here,” he whispered. “The shock might cause a relapse. I’ll wait outside. Let me know by and by if she wishes, or does not wish, to see me.”
Even as he spoke, a deep sigh issued from the sleeper’s lips, and he went hastily from the room, closing the door behind him.
He had, not, however, lingered, the most scrupulous of intruders, ten minutes in the little cold hall, when the girl came out to him radiant.