Jem-y-Lord came in hurriedly and Philip beckoned him close. “Where is she?” he whispered.
“They removed her to Castle Rushen late last night, your Honour,” said Jemmy softly.
“Write immediately to the Clerk of the Bolls,” said Philip. “Say she must be lodged on the debtors' side and have patients' diet and every comfort. My Kate! my Kate!” he kept saying, “it shall not be for long, not for long, my love, not for long!”
The convalescence was slow and Philip was impatient. “I feel better to-day, doctor,” he would say, “don't you think I may get out of bed?”
“Traa dy liooar (time enough), Deemster,” the doctor would answer. “Let us see what a few more days will do.”
“I have a great task before me, doctor,” he would say again. “I must begin immediately.”
“You have a life's work before you, Deemster, and you must begin soon, but not just yet.”
“I have something particular to do, doctor,” he said at last. “I must lose no time.”
“You must lose no time indeed, that's why you must stay where you are a little longer.”
One morning his impatience overcame him, and he got out of bed. But, being on his feet, his head reeled, his limbs trembled, he clutched at the bed-post, and had to clamber back. “Oh God, bear me witness, this delay is not my fault,” he murmured.