“Well, doctor,” I said, “I intend to make it my business to investigate the cause of this peculiar phenomenon.”
And I sat down and wrote an urgent telegram to Cardew, who was, I knew, now stationed at Aldershot.
Chapter Twenty Eight.
Another Revelation.
The dark anxious hours of that dismal autumn morning went slowly by.
Doctor Petherbridge arrived in hot haste from Northampton, and had a long and earnest consultation with Redwood. Both men were greatly puzzled. I met them after a long and eager wait, when they emerged in silence from the sick-room.
“We are doing all we can, Mr Kemball,” declared Petherbridge. “The young lady is, I regret to say, in a most precarious condition—in fact, in a state of collapse.”
I begged him to remain, and he did so. For several hours they were constantly at her bedside, while Mrs Howard, anxious and solicitous for the welfare of her young mistress, expressed surprise that Mr Shaw did not return.