'Welcome to the Hollow, Miss Marston,' he said. 'I can't say how charmed I am in one sense, though I regret the necessity which brought you here.'
'I'm glad to come, and only for poor father's being so bad I could delight in the life here.'
'How do you find your father?'
'He is asleep now, and perhaps the rest will do him good.'
'He may awake free from fever,' says Starlight. 'I took the risk of giving him an opiate before you came, and I think the result has been favourable.'
'Oh! I hope he will be better when he wakes,' says Aileen, 'and that I shall not have to watch through another dreadful night of raving. I can hardly bear it.'
'You must make your brothers take their share; it's not fair to you.'
'Thank you; but I feel as if I couldn't leave him to anybody but myself. He seems so weak now; a little neglect might kill him.'
'Pardon me, Miss Marston; you overrate the danger. Depend upon it, your respected parent will be quite a different man in a week, though it may be a month or more before he is fully recovered. You don't know what a constitution he has.'
'You have given me fresh hope,' she said. 'I feel quite cheered up—that is' (and she sighed) 'if I could be cheerful again about anything.'