He has been so threatened,
and for a time he changes his haphazard mode of dealing with it, and then
returns; he may escape--of course, that is possible--but he may any day
overdo the thing. I don't think the present crisis will result seriously. I
am very glad, independently of the honour of making your acquaintance, Miss
Ruthyn, that you and your cousin have returned; for, however zealous, I
fear the servants are deficient in intelligence; and as in the event of a
recurrence of the symptoms--which, however, is not probable--I would beg to
inform you of their nature, and how exactly best to deal with them.'
So upon these points he delivered us a pompous little lecture, and begged
that either Milly or I would remain in the room with the patient until his
return at two or three o'clock in the morning; a reappearance of the coma
'might be very bad indeed.'
Of course Milly and I did as we were directed. We sat by the fire, scarcely
daring to whisper. Uncle Silas, about whom a new and dreadful suspicion
began to haunt me, lay still and motionless as if he were actually dead.
'Had he attempted to poison himself?'
If he believed his position to be as desperate as Lady Knollys had
described it, was this, after all, improbable? There were strange wild
theories, I had been told, mixed up in his religion.
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