CHAPTER XII.
A low cottage in a sunny bay
Where the salt sea innocuously breaks,
And the sea-breeze as innocently breathes
On Devon's leafy shores.
Wordsworth.
"May I come in, Miss Willoughby? My brother is here, and has brought good news from Poole."
"Come in, pray, Lady Mabel; and Mr. Cranmer too," said Ellen, raising herself eagerly on her couch. "Tell me all about this good news. Mr. Allonby will live?"
"He will live, and is doing finely," said Claud, shaking hands with the invalid. "He has recognised his sister this morning, and spoken several coherent sentences. Dr. Forbes is much elated, and I must say I am greatly relieved; it would have been very tragic had he not recovered."
"I am deeply thankful," said Miss Ellen, with a sympathetic moisture in her eyes. "How delighted his sister must be!"
"She is. I fancy, from what I can gather, that she and her sisters are quite dependent on their brother; she told me they were orphans."
"Poor children!" said Lady Mabel, in her impulsive way. "It would have been terrible had it ended fatally. I feel quite a weight lifted from my mind. Miss Willoughby, I must express to you my hearty thanks for having been so long troubled with me. I have sent Joseph into Stanton with a telegram telling Edward to come and fetch me, as Claud does not seem inclined to come back to London just yet awhile."