"Bah!" he said, as his pen travelled swiftly over the paper. "What do I care? if he likes to encumber himself with that woman he can do so. I don't suppose I'll ever see him again in this life, nor do I wish to--my business now is with my dear son. I'll get what I want out of him, and then the whole lot of them can go to the devil."
Meanwhile, Cecilia had returned to the sick room, where Miss Busky, still faithful to her blind friend, sat watching by the bedside of the invalid. A pale, sickly light filtered in through the white-curtained windows, mixing with the red glow of the fire, and in this curiously blended twilight could be seen the glimmer of the medicine bottles on the round table by the bed, the deep arm-chair close at hand wherein Miss Busky sat the milky whiteness of the disordered bed-clothes and the subdued shine upon the surface of the furniture. Throughout the room was a complete stillness, unbroken even by the tick of a clock, and nothing was heard but the heavy breathing of the sick man.
As Cecilia entered, Miss Busky arose lightly to her feet and crossed over to her friend, speaking in a subdued whisper.
"Did you see him?" she asked.
"Yes--he will not come up, thank Heaven!--Dr. Nestley suspects nothing?"
"Nothing!--he is asleep--let me place you in the chair--I'm going out for a few minutes."
She led Cecilia forward, and the blind girl-sank into the arm-chair; then, hastily putting on her hat, Miss Busky glided rapidly out of the room, leaving Cecilia seated by the bed, listening to the breathing of the invalid.
So still, so quiet--it might almost have been the silence of the tomb. Then there came the light patter of rain-drops on the windows. The fire had sunk to a dull red glow, and a piece of burning coal dropped, with a singularly distinct noise, on to the fender. Nestley sighed in his sleep--moved uneasily, and then awoke--a fact which the blind girl was aware of immediately, by her acute sense of hearing.
"Cecilia," said the sick man, in a weak voice.
"I am here, dear," she replied softly. "Do you want anything?"