CHAPTER XXVI
DEPPINGHAM FALLS ILL
That evening Lord Deppingham took to his bed with violent chills. He shivered and burned by turns and spent a most distressing night. Bobby Browne came in twice to see him before retiring. For some reason unknown to any one but himself, Deppingham refused to be treated by the young man, notwithstanding the fact that Browne laid claim to a physician's certificate and professed to be especially successful in breaking up "the ague." Lady Agnes entreated her liege lord to submit to the doses, but Deppingham was resolute to irascibility.
"A Dover's powder, Deppy, or a few grains of quinine. Please be sensible. You're just like a child."
"What's in a Dover's powder?" demanded the patient, who had never been ill in his life.
"Ipecac and opium, sugar of milk or sulphate of potash. It's an anodyne diaphoretic," said Browne.
"Opium, eh?" came sharply from the couch. "Good Lord, an overdose of it would—" he checked the words abruptly and gave vent to a nervous fit of laughter.
"Don't be a fool, George," commanded his wife. "No one is trying to poison you."