"No one shall touch you, dear. But I should like Dr. Burton just to see you. He will tell me what I may give you to eat."
"I don't want anything, Auntie, only something to drink."
"Well, dear, he will tell me what will be best for you to have."
"I would like only water, please."
"You shall have some, dear, at once, and after that something else, I hope."
Dr. Burton came to the room, felt the patient's pulse, took his temperature, and looked at his tongue, but mercifully refrained from turning him about, to examine the bruises.
"I will send some medicine at once," he said to Mrs. Mandeville. "Give him a dose every hour. He has a very high temperature."
Downstairs he told Colonel Mandeville: "He may pull through if meningitis does not supervene."
But he left the house holding a very strong belief that meningitis would supervene. Not even the medicine, which was to be given every hour, could prevent it.