I
put my hands on her before I did so, and I think she felt that it
was the touch of a friend. She hushed up when I spoke to her. The
mistress, who was standing close by, thought that this was a sign
of the power of the words I had spoken to her. I did not stay more
than a minute. I was afraid she might try to speak to me in your
tongue, and that would have been dangerous."
"There are the bottles,"' Bathurst said; "this large one is for
her to take, the other two and this note are to be given to her
separately. You had better tell the woman that the philter must
be given by your own hands, and that you must then watch alone by
her side for half an hour. Say that after you leave her she will
soon go off to sleep; and must then be left absolutely alone till
daybreak tomorrow, and it will then be found that the philter has
acted. She must at once tell the Nana that the lady is in a high
fever, and has been seized with some terrible disease that has
altogether disfigured her, and that he can see for himself the
state she is in."
Rabda's whisper had given new life and hope to Isobel Hannay.
Previous to that her fate had seemed to her to be sealed, and she
had only prayed for death; the long strain of the siege had told upon
her; the scene in the boat seemed a species of horrible nightmare,
culminating in a number of Sepoys leaping on board the boat as it
touched the bank, and bayoneting her uncle and all on board except
herself, Mrs.
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