"Supposing Evan were to die! I never thought of that! We both promised each other we wouldn't tell; but we never thought of this!"
"Is it something you ought to tell?" asked Barbara, putting her arm round his shoulders.
Ivor nodded.
"Then let's go down and tell Lucia now."
But Ivor held her back. "I must see Evan first," he besought. "If he's asleep, I won't speak a word; but if he's awake, he'll understand. I must peep at him, Barbara. Do let me."
The little girl was terribly frightened, especially as Ivor was already at the door and half-way across the passage. Fear of making matters worse by causing a commotion made her follow him through the half-open door, but no words could express her dismay at what she was made a party to.
There lay Evan in that sort of unconscious sleep which had so alarmed every one, and in the dim, darkened room—surely that was the doctor sitting by the bedside, holding his watch in his hand!
Ivor saw him too, and without a sound the two children crept back to the other room.
[CHAPTER X.]
A PROMISE.