"George Alison?" said Anthony. "George Alison? How on earth——" He stopped short and started up on an elbow. "What month is it?"
"April," said Lady Touchstone. "And now lie down again, there's a dear boy…. And why shouldn't Alison have——"
"But if it's April—— Good God!" he cried hoarsely, raising a trembling hand. "D'you mean to say I've lain here in this house for six months?"
The woman's heart leaped into her mouth.
"And why not?" she said quietly. "I know a case of a man who lay unconscious for over two years—the result of a fall hunting. And when he came to——"
She stopped to peer at the patient.
Then she rang for the nurse—-instantly.
Anthony had fainted.
* * * * *
Thus fell that formidable position upon whose delicate reduction all the science of physic, the love of women, the wisdom of friends, had been feverishly concentrated by day and night for nearly three weeks.