“Quite so, Frank. When you come up from supper bring an extra candle with you: you had better keep a light burning all night.”
Captain Percival, however, did not wake up until it was broad daylight. He looked round in a bewildered way until his eyes rested upon Frank, who was seated close to his bedside.
“That settles it,” he said with a smile, holding out his hand to him. “I could not make out where I was. I remember leaving Capua in a carriage, and nothing more; I must have slept like a log, as you got me out of the carriage and up here without my waking.”
“I think it was the professor’s fault chiefly, father, in making you take that second glass of wine in your soup. You see you were altogether unaccustomed to it, and being so weak, that and all the excitement naturally overpowered you. However, I think it a capital thing that it did. You had twelve hours’ good sleep, and you look all the better for it. I will tell Signor Forli you are awake. He has peeped in three or four times to see how you are going on.”
He went out for a minute, and a little later the professor came in with a large cup of hot milk.
“You are looking fifty per cent. better, Leonard,” he said. “You had better begin by drinking this, and then I should recommend you to get rid of those rags you have on, and to have a good wash. I am going into Naples, and will bring you some clothes. You certainly could not get into my coat, but I will lend you a shirt, and that is all that you will want, for you had better lie in bed to-day and listen to Frank’s account of his adventures, having a nap occasionally when you feel tired, and taking as much soup as you can get down, with perhaps a slice of chicken.”
“What are you going to Naples for?”
“I am going to send the good news to Muriel, and to tell her and my wife to come over at once and help you to build up your strength again. I won’t say come over to nurse you, for I think you can do without that,—all you want is building up.”
Before he started the professor showed them the telegram he had written out.
“It is rather long,” he said, “but a pound or two one way or the other makes little difference.” It ran: “Prepare yourself for good news, and don’t read farther till you have done so. Thank God, Frank’s search has been successful. I dared not tell you when I last wrote that I had found a clue, lest it should only give rise to false hopes. However, it led us to our goal. Leonard is recovered and free. He is weak, but needs nothing but good food and your presence. Start with Annetta at once; come straight to Marseilles and take the first steamer to Naples. You will find us at the Hotel d’Italie, where I shall have rooms ready for you.”