It added considerably to the discomfort of Dick’s present state of mind that he was conscious that Georgia was behaving with a magnanimity to which he could lay no claim, but he had started with the determination to put his foot down, and to show Georgia before they were married that he would stand no nonsense, and he stuck to his point doggedly. “I don’t intend to be made to look a fool before all the world,” he growled.
“But who would want to make you look a fool? You must know that your honour is as dear to me as to yourself. Haven’t I shown that I won’t keep you back when duty calls you? Can’t you trust me, Dick? If you can’t, things had better be over between us, indeed. Suppose you were out, and I was summoned to a dangerous case, and couldn’t possibly let you know. It would be my duty to go, just as it would be yours to start if you were ordered somewhere on special service, and couldn’t even say good-bye to me. Can’t we act on this understanding?”
“But how can you be sure that you can trust me, may I ask? Many men make rash promises before marriage, and break them like a shot afterwards. How do you know that I am not one of them?”
“Oh, not you, Dick! You are a gentleman; I can trust you fully. Tell me that you will agree, and let us forget all this worry.”
“You are trying to get round me,” said Dick again, helplessly. “I can’t think what I was going to say; everything seems to have gone out of my head. What is the matter?” looking irritably at her frightened face. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I think—things had better be—over between us, Georgie. We should never—agree. What was I saying last? What’s the matter with the walls? Is it—an earthquake?”
He was reeling as he stood, and clutching wildly at the frame of the lattice for support. Georgia caught him by the arm, for he had missed his hold and was swaying backwards and forwards, and succeeded in guiding him to the divan.
“I feel—awfully queer,” he said, and fainted away before Georgia could seek a restorative. She cried out, and Lady Haigh and Rahah came rushing in, the latter followed by Dick’s bearer, whose countenance declared plainly that he considered his master’s illness to be entirely due to Georgia, and that it was just what he had expected. With the help of some of the other servants, Dick was carried to his own room, where for several days he was to lie moaning and tossing under a bad attack of fever. Georgia had her hands full during this period, even though the bearer declined respectfully to allow her any share in the actual nursing, for besides her care for Dick, she was engaged in testing, with scarcely less anxiety, the effect upon Sir Dugald’s health of the antidote she had obtained with so much difficulty. She would have preferred to choose a time when she could give her whole attention to his case, but he had appeared so much weaker of late that Lady Haigh was feverishly eager for the remedy to be tried at once, and in fear and trembling Georgia put into practice the directions she had received from Khadija. Her courage revived to a certain extent when she found that the resulting symptoms corresponded exactly with those described by the old woman, but the two days of heavy slumber proved to be a period of intense anxiety. Every sound was hushed in the neighbourhood of Sir Dugald’s sick-room, and the watchers scarcely dared to move or breathe. At last, just as Georgia had returned to her other patient after a heart-breaking visit to Dick, who was calling on her constantly, although he refused to recognise her when she stood beside him, there was a sudden movement on the part of Sir Dugald, and Lady Haigh grasped her arm convulsively.
“Go to him, and let him see you first when he wakes,” said Georgia, in a low whisper, and Lady Haigh obeyed.
“Well, Elma!” It was Sir Dugald’s voice, very weak, but without a hint of delirium. “Haven’t you got the place rather dark?”
Georgia threw the lattice partly open, and he looked round.