"Will I recover?" insisted Langham impatiently.
"Oh, please, Marshall!" cried Evelyn.
"I want to know the truth! If you don't think you can stand it, go out into the hail while I thresh this matter out with Taylor!" But Evelyn did not leave her place at his bedside.
"You must not excite yourself!" said Taylor.
"Humph—if you won't tell me what I wish to know, I'll tell you my opinion; it is that I am not going to recover. I must see Moxlow. Who is down-stairs?"
"Colonel Harbison and his nephew."
"Ask Watt to find Moxlow and bring him here. He's probably at his boarding-house."
He spoke with painful effort, and the doctor glanced uncertainly at Evelyn, who by a slight inclination of the head indicated that she wished her husband's request complied with. Taylor quitted the room.
"Why do you wish to see Moxlow?" Evelyn asked the moment they were alone.
"I want him here; I may wish to tell him something—and I may not, it all depends," he said slowly, as his heavy lids closed over his tired eyes.