When breakfast was over he took his hat and prepared to go.
“I thank you very much for your kind hospitality,” he began. Then he was attacked by a fit of coughing.
“Where are you going. Mr. Bruce?” asked Chester.
“I don’t know,” he answered, despondently. “I came to Wyncombe to see my uncle Silas, but he will have nothing to say to me.”
Chester and his mother exchanged looks. The same thought was in the mind of each.
“Stay with us a day or two,” said Mrs. Rand. “You are not fit to travel. You need rest and care.”
“But I shall be giving you a great deal of trouble.”
“We shall not consider it such,” said Mrs. Rand.
“Then I will accept your kind offer, for indeed I am very unwell.”
Before the end of the day the young man was obliged to go to bed, and a doctor was summoned. Bruce was pronounced to have a low fever, and to be quite unfit to travel.