THE REVOLVING CAGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE
I
I will not trouble the reader with details of the illness that came upon me as the result of my mental agony and physical exhaustion. At intervals I was aware of what was going on around me, but for the most part I was in a semi-comatose state. I realised at intervals that a medical man was sitting by my side, as I lay in bed. Then I had a sense of being moved from place to place; and then of being rocked by the waves. Slowly the periods of consciousness became more frequent and also more prolonged.
My first exclamation was—'Dead! Have I been ill?' and I tried to raise myself in vain.
'Yes, very ill,' said a voice, my mother's.
'Dangerously?'
'For several days you were in danger. Your recovery now entirely depends upon your keeping yourself calm.'
'I am out at sea?'
'Yes,' said my mother; 'in Lord Sleaford's yacht.'
'How did I come here?'