Whether or not George's tongue would have begun to wag will never be known, for at that moment footsteps sounded outside the door, and the vicar entered. He found the patient as he had left him.
"He's coming to, I think; there seems to have been a slight movement," he murmured.
George's face twitched, and he uttered a faint—a very faint—groan.
"Ah!" said the vicar, as if it was the pleasantest sound in the world, "I thought so—I thought so!"
By the time that the vicar's daughter returned George was fully conscious, but evidently still suffering from shock.
"I won't use that now, my dear," said her father. "I think we can effect a cure by simpler methods. Do you feel any pain?" he said to George.
There was no response, and George appeared to be unconscious that any one was speaking.
"He doesn't hear you, pa," said the vicar's daughter.
"Do you feel any pain?" said the parson in a mild shout.
There was no response.