"The prescription, sir? Here," was the reply; and Saul took it from his breast-pocket.

Doctor Lawrence glanced at it quickly, and seemed satisfied, but turned to his patient again, as if the effects of his dose made him uneasy.

"He'll be better soon, Gertrude, dear," whispered Mrs Hampton, as she drew her away to the embayed window, and stood with her half hidden by the curtains, but with Saul Harrington's eyes watching them keenly.

"Don't be alarmed, my dear, at the violence of the attack."

"I am not alarmed," said Gertrude slowly, and in a deep, sad voice, "and I am not deceived, Mrs Hampton."

"What do you mean, my dear?"

"That I never saw any one behave like that before. Mrs Hampton, dear, I am not the child you think me. Do you suppose I do not know that this is the effect of drink?"

There was a dead silence for a few moments, broken only by the stertorous breathing of the man upon the couch.

"I wished to spare you pain, my poor darling," said Mrs Hampton affectionately, as she drew the weeping girl to her breast. "But you see now it is impossible for you to wed this man. Gertrude, my child, you must come home with me, and give up all thoughts of poor old Mr Harrington's wishes. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"And you will not be tempted by the money to sacrifice yourself like this."

"No," said Gertrude gently. "No money would tempt me, but it was my poor guardian's great wish that I should be the wife of the boy he worshipped."

"But, my--"

"Hush, Mrs Hampton. He was not always like this, but generous, chivalrous, and true. Mrs Hampton, I can see my duty here. It will be no sacrifice, but a labour of love."

"What? You will not stay here?"

"Yes, and will be his wife."

"What? You love him, then?"

"No, I think not yet; but I shall bring him patiently back to that which he was when he used to help my poor guardian--win him back to a truer life."

"Gertrude?"

"If I can do that, I shall fulfil the wishes of the dead."

"Rachel, take Miss Gertrude away. Hampton, Mr Saul, I must have more help here," said the doctor in a low, stern voice, as he bent over the man upon the couch, and then in a hoa.r.s.e, excited whisper he exclaimed:

"Good G.o.d! He's dying!"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

DOCTORS AGREE.

The anxiety was terrible for a short time, during which the sick man seemed to be suffering from acute spasms, which made his limbs contract, and drew the muscles of his features in a way that was painful to behold.

Mr Hampton had started off at once for a.s.sistance, and Saul placed himself at Doctor Lawrence's disposal, holding or supporting the patient as his convulsions took the form of a desire to throw himself upon the floor, or of sinking back off the couch.

"You must have given him too strong a dose, doctor," said Saul at last, as the sufferer lay ghastly-looking, and, for the moment, still.

His eyes were closed, his teeth set, and his fingers tightly clenched, while the sunken eyes and hollowed cheeks seemed to be those of one suffering from a long and painful illness, and not of a young man but a few hours before in the full tide of health.

"No," said the doctor thoughtfully, "it was the correct quant.i.ty. The only thing I can see is that the chemist must have made some terrible mistake. Ha!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed at last, as he sat holding his patient's hand, "that's better. The paroxysms of pain have pa.s.sed away, and--"

He was speaking too soon, for the sufferer suddenly uttered a wild cry, and began to writhe and struggle upon the couch, groaning and kicking with pain, and apparently unconscious of the fact that Gertrude was kneeling at his side, holding one of his cold, damp hands.

The pain pa.s.sed off, though, after a time, and, livid-looking, and with eyelids and fingers twitching, he lay once more apparently exhausted, till finally his breathing grew regular and faint in the calm sleep of exhaustion.

About this time the second doctor arrived with Mr Hampton, and the room was cleared for the two medicoes to have their consultation.

The great dining-room looked gloomy in the extreme, lit by a hand-candlestick, which had been brought in from the hall; and its occupants stood listening, Mr Hampton and Saul apart, Mrs Hampton and Gertrude together, waiting eagerly for permission to re-enter the study, where, as Gertrude walked to the dining-room door from time to time, all seemed to be terribly still.

It was when returning agitatedly from one of these visits to the open door that she happened to glance upward to where her old guardian's portrait hung upon the wall, and it was as if the whole of the feeble light from the candle had become focussed upon the grim features of the stern old man, whose eyes met hers in a questioning manner, and to Gertrude it seemed as if they asked her to do her duty by the erring man.

At last the opening of the study door was heard, followed by hushed voices in the hall, and the local doctor took his departure.

"Well?" said Saul eagerly.

"Mr Herbert agrees with me, Mr Saul. Of course, under the circ.u.mstances, I submitted my prescription to him. He agreed that it was correct, and he joins with me in my opinion as to the cause."

Saul looked at him inquiringly, and it fell to Gertrude's lot to ask the question as to the cause of the terrible suffering.

"The chemist must have made some grievous mistake, my dear, through being disturbed so late at night."

"But he will be better soon?"

"He is better now, my child; and it will, perhaps, be a lesson to him,"

he added to the lawyer, as they returned to the study, where the patient had sunk into the deep sleep produced by the drug the doctor had administered; the terribly potent chemical he had also taken having exhausted its strength.

"Nothing can be better than this," said Doctor Lawrence. "And now, if you people will all go to bed, it will be the kindest thing for my patient."

"But he must not be left," said Gertrude in a quiet, decided tone.

"He is not going to be left," replied the doctor. "I shall stop with him, and if anybody is needed I will soon call some one."

"But you must have some one to sit up with you, Mr Lawrence," said Mrs Hampton.

"Yes; I will sit up with him," cried Saul eagerly. "It was not my fault, but I feel a little guilty about his being so ill; and it is too late to go back to town."

"Very well," said the doctor quietly, "you can sit up with me;" and they kept vigil by the young man's side.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.