Hugh held his sister in his arms, and soothed her as one would soothe a child. From that hour Sibyl's coldness left her never to return.
As the first sunbeams brightened the sky, Mr. Leslie again opened his eyes, the doctors bent over him, and it seemed to Aunt Faith as if she could hear all the hearts in the room throbbing aloud in the intense anxiety of the moment.
"The worst is over," whispered Doctor Gregory, stepping back and shaking hands with Aunt Faith; "we shall bring him through, now, I think."
Sibyl sat with her head hidden on Hugh's shoulder; she heard the doctor's words, but a sudden timidity had come over her. "Let us go," she whispered, turning towards the door.
But Hugh had been watching the sick man.
"He is conscious; he knows us!" he said suddenly, and leading his sister forward, he left her at the bedside, pale and trembling with joyful emotion.
"Sibyl," said Mr. Leslie in a faint voice, "is it you? Have you come to me at last, dear?"
"Yes, John," said Sibyl, bending over him with tears in her eyes. "I have brought myself and my life to you,—if you care for them."
"If?" said Mr. Leslie, with the ghost of a smile on his pale face; "as if there was any doubt—" but here the doctors interfered, and the rest of the sentence was postponed.