"Go quite near to her," said Mr. Prigley; "she can only speak in a whisper."
There had always existed a great friendship between the youth and the old lady now lying on the brink of the grave. He bent down over her, and tenderly kissed her forehead.
"God bless you!" she whispered, "it is very kind of you to come."
Then she said, in answer to his enquiries,—
"I shall not live long, but I shall live rather longer than they think. I shan't die to-night. I want my son—my son!"
After this supervened a syncope, which Jacob and Edith believed to be death. But the Doctor, with his larger experience, reassured them for the present. "She will live several hours," he said.
Jacob told them that she had asked for Colonel Stanburne, and added, "I have not the slightest idea where he is."
Then Edith made a sign to him to follow her, and led him downstairs again to the little sitting-room. "Papa is a long way off; he is in France. He must be telegraphed for." And she took a writing-case and wrote an address.
Now, although there was a telegraph from Wenderholme to Ogden's Mill at Shayton, there was none from Shayton to Sootythorn, which was the nearest town of importance. So the best way appeared to be for Jacob to ride off at once with the despatch to the station, which was ten miles off.
"And you must telegraph for mamma at the same time." And Edith wrote Lady Helena's address.