In an hour Dr. Lepel returned, and gave him the draught.
"Now try and go to sleep," he said in broken English. "I shall lie down on that sofa, and if you wake up be sure and call me. I am a light sleeper."
"Had you not better stay with the young lady?"
"She will have her mother and her aunt with her, so she will do very well. I hope that you will soon go to sleep."
It was but a few minutes before Nat dozed off. Beyond a numbed feeling his arm was not hurting him very much. Once or twice during the night he woke and took a drink. A slight stir in the room aroused him, and to his surprise he found that the sun was already up. The doctor was feeling his pulse, a negro girl was fanning him, and a lady stood at the foot of the bed looking at him pitifully.
"Do you speak French, monsieur?" she asked.
"A little," he replied, for he had learned French while at school, and since the frigate had been among the West Indian islands he had studied it for a couple of hours a day, as it was the language that was spoken in all the French islands and might be useful to him if put in charge of a prize.
"Have you slept well?" she asked.
"Very well."
"Does your arm hurt you very much now?"