"Not a shadow."
"Do you think it likely his mind will grow any clearer towards the last?"
"I do not think it; in fact, it is extremely improbable. You see, his wandering is simply the result of weakness; as the weakness increases, the mental faculties will probably cease gradually to act at all. One can't, of course, say positively when; if he becomes quite unconscious to-night, death will probably follow in the course of the next twenty-four hours."
"Poor fellow! There is little, then, that can be done for him?"
"Next to nothing. He wants a nurse to give him some little nourishment when he wakes up, and that is pretty nearly all."
"I shall bring him the best possible nurse," Mr. Strafford said. "Mrs. Costello wishes to come and remain here."
The doctor looked at him curiously.
"Mrs. Costello is my patient also," he said; "I am half inclined to forbid her coming."
"She is your patient, doctor! How is that? I thought she was looking ill, though she denies it."
"She is not ill; but as you are an old friend and adviser, I don't mind telling you that her health is in a critical state, and that I have forbidden her all excitement and fatigue." 'Much use,' he added to himself, in a parenthesis.