“Bai Jove!” ejaculated Max; “are you a doctor?”
“No, sir; only an old Indian officer; but I have seen sufficient illness to know a case of fever when I see one.”
“Bai Jove!” exclaimed Max again; and then he sat helpless and frowning, while the stranger laid back the poor girl’s head that she might breathe more freely, and half supported her till they reached the next stopping station, where she was transferred to a fly, and conveyed, under the care of Max Bray, to the nearest hotel.
There is no difficulty in obtaining a doctor in a country town, and it was not long before one was by the sofa upon which Ella had been laid.
“Well,” said Max, after five minutes’ examination, “what’s to be done?”
“Send for a nurse, and have Mrs—Mrs—I beg pardon, what name did you say?”
“Williams,” said Max.
“To be sure—Williams,” said the doctor; “and let Mrs Williams be at once conveyed to bed. She will have to be carefully tended and watched.”
“Fit to travel again to-morrow, I suppose?” said Max. “Come, now, no professional dodging.”
“To-morrow two months,” said the doctor sharply, “perhaps;” and then he looked anything but pleasantly at Max.