"Ellen," he exclaimed, "you have been very ill."
"Yes—very ill, Richard," returned the invalid, casting down her eyes; "but I am better—oh! much, very much better now; and, in a day or two, shall be quite well."
"And yet you are very pale, and sadly altered," said Markham.
"I can assure you that I am recovering fast. Indeed, I should have risen to-day; but Marian persuaded me to keep my bed a short time longer."
"And you have had no medical advice, Ellen. I told your father that he had done wrong—"
"Oh! no, Richard," interrupted Ellen eagerly; "he was anxious to call in the aid of a physician; but I was not so ill as he thought."
"Not ill!" ejaculated Markham. "You must have been very—very ill."
"But Marian was so kind to me."
"No doubt! Nevertheless I have no confidence in the nostrums and prescriptions of old servants and nurses; and human existence is too serious a thing to be tampered with."
"I assure you, Richard, that Marian has treated me most judiciously; and I am now very nearly quite well."