“And you do not think he will die?”
“Quite the contrary; though it is a case of brain concussion, it is slight, and I can give you the assurance that all will be well in a week.”
Two hours afterwards Antonio, to the delight of his watchers, opened his eyes and began to speak feebly. He evidently did not know where he was, however, or what had occurred.
He held out a feeble hand to Davie.
“O José, José, my own, my best of brothers,” he said, “to see you once again, dearie! But how white your hair is, and how wan your face. Ah! won’t mother be glad to meet us again. ‘Carissima’ we used to call her, José, and ‘Carissima’ she still shall be.”
But now Sister Leona laid a finger on his lips.
This recalled him somewhat from his wanderings.
“Drink this and sleep,” she said.
He did as told, and presently went off again into a dreamless sleep, without either twitching or movement of a muscle.
After concussion of the brain there is sometimes fierce reaction.