There was a slight movement of his body, but no reply.
"Henry! Henry!" Mrs. Ellis spoke in tones of anxiety, as she laid her hand upon him. "Speak! What is the matter? Are you sick?"
A long deep sigh was the only answer.
"Why don't you speak, Henry?" exclaimed Mrs. Ellis. "You frighten me dreadfully."
"Don't trouble me just now, if you please," said the wretched man, in a low, half-whispering voice.
"But what ails you, Henry? Are you sick?"
"Yes."
"How? Where? What can I do for you?"
"Nothing!" was faintly murmured.
By this time, Cara began to feel really alarmed. Leaving the room hurriedly, she gave the babe she held in her arms to one of her domestics, and then returned. Bending, now, over her husband, she took one of his hands, and clasping it tightly, said, in a voice of earnest affection that went to the heart of Ellis with electric quickness—