Rendel was silent, his thoughts chasing each other tumultuously through his brain.
"Does my wife know?" he said.
"I think she does," Morgan said. "I have not told her quite as clearly as I have said it to you, but she knows how much care he needs and how absolutely essential it is that he should be quiet. It is his one chance. No talk, no news, no excitement."
"What has brought on this attack, do you think?" said Rendel, feeling as if he were driven to ask the question.
"I can't tell," said Morgan. "He looked to me like a man who had been excited about something. Do you know whether that is so?"
"Yes," said Rendel; "he got excited this morning about something that was in the paper."
"Ah! by the way, yes, I don't wonder," said Morgan, who was an ardent politician. "It was a most astonishing piece of news, certainly."
"It was, indeed," said Rendel, brought back for a moment to the unendurable burthen he had been carrying about with him.
"The Imperialists are safe now to get in," said Morgan. "We look to you to do great things some day," and without waiting for the polite disclaimer which he took for granted would be Rendel's reply to his remark, without seeing the swift look of keen suffering that swept over Rendel's face, he hurried away.