He tore open the envelope and read the contents hastily. The note was very brief. Sir Alexander had had a bad night, and was rather worse this morning. He particularly wanted to see Mr. Grey at once. Would Mr. Grey be so good as to come instantly upon receipt of this? The words in italics were underlined heavily three or four times.
"What can this be?" he thought. "The last time I got a note from Mrs. Grant asking me to go to the Castle I was in the final extremity of apprehension, and all came much better than I could have dared to hope. There seems no possibility of a favourable solution of the present situation. If the old man is sinking, that will give me only a year—and that is the least terrible thing can cause this hasty summons. Well, go I must, and at once."
He leaped lightly down the stairs, carrying his bag in his hand, and was soon driving rapidly towards Island Ferry.
Two miles lay between him and the city before he remembered his appointment with his wife on board the Rodwell.
"Never mind," he thought, "I'll board the steamboat as she passes the Island; that will make it all right."
By six o'clock he had reached Island Ferry. Without the loss of a moment he crossed over to the Island and ascended towards the Castle.
A servant at once conducted him to Mrs. Grant, who was waiting for him in the hall-room off the grand entrance-hall.
"O Mr. Grey, I am so glad you have come; we are in such fearful anxiety. Poor Sir Alexander has got worse and worse ever since I wrote to you. The doctors say this is what they have been dreading all along."
The little woman was in a state of the greatest excitement, and had completely lost all sense of proportion. The standards of her feelings had been broken by her agitation, and everything that went wrong seemed of equal importance and mischief.
"What is the matter now?" the banker asked, in a soft sympathetic voice. "I hope Miss Midharst," he added, before he gave the little widow time to answer, "is kept as free as possible from these sad and depressing scenes.