The abbess drew nearer, stooped over the body, and gazed attentively into the pallid and ghastly face, and then started with a half-suppressed cry as she recognized the features of the man who had visited the Infants' Asylum on the day previous, and whom the abbess now believed to be John Scott, the half brother and the "double" of the Duke of Hereward.
"Will you kindly order some brandy, madam?" courteously requested the surgeon.
"Certainly, monsieur," replied the lady superior, who immediately dispatched a nun to fetch the required restorative.
As soon as it was brought, a few drops were forced down the throat of the fainting man, who soon began to show signs of recovery.
"I should like to put my patient to bed, madam; but the nearest farm-house is still too far off for him to be conveyed thither in safety. The motion would start his wound to bleeding again, and the hemorrhage might prove fatal," said the surgeon suggestively.
The abbess took the hint.
"Of course," she said, "the poor wounded man must remain here. I will have a room prepared for him in our Old Men's Home. It will not take ten minutes to get the room ready, and carry him to it. Can you wait so long, good Doctor?"
"Assuredly, madam," answered the surgeon.
The abbess gave the necessary orders to a couple of young nuns, who hurried off to obey them.
In less time than the abbess required, they came back and reported that the room was ready for the patient.