“No doubt you feel rather low just now,” said the doctor, “but that is very much owing to your having lived so long on insufficient diet. I will give you something, however, which will soon pull you up a bit. Come, cheer up. Don’t let your spirits get so low.”
“Yes,” she murmured, “I am brought very low, but the Lord will lift me up. He is my strength and my Redeemer.”
She clasped her hands with difficulty, and shut her eyes.
A silence followed, during which Captain Wopper drew Lawrence into the passage.
“D’you think she is near her end, doctor?”
“She looks very like it,” replied the doctor. “There is a possibility that she might recover if the right medicine could be found, namely, ease of mind; but her dissipated son has robbed her of that, and is the only one who can give it back to her—if indeed he has the power left now. She is dying of what is unprofessionally styled a broken heart. It is unfortunate that her son is not with her at present.”
“Does no one know where to find him?” asked the Captain.
“I fear not,” replied the doctor.
“Please, sir, I think I know,” said a subdued voice behind them.
It was that of Gillie White, who had drawn near very silently, being overawed by the sad scene in the sick-room.