The exposure and wet garments, which Constance had worn during the
most critical period of her delirium, had the customary effect. She
had been quickly ushered into the house, the wet clothes removed, her
limbs and feet chafed by tender hands, and under the influence of a
stimulant, and warmly wrapped and in bed, the poor, worn, exhausted
soul soon fell asleep. She awoke six hours later in a raging fever.
The doctor had anticipated that something of the kind would happen,
and was in the house at the time of her awakening. In so fragile a
constitution, weakened by grief and trouble, it was not strange that
the fever made prodigious headway, and swiftly reached its height. The
crisis arrived several hours after the attack.
She lay very still, apparently on the confines of death. The most
profound stillness pervaded the room. The doctor, watch in hand, held
her wrist and noted her pulse. Its beat was so feeble that only his
experienced fingers could detect it at all. John Thorpe stood at the
side of the bed opposite the doctor, bending over and watching her
half open lips with an intensity of anxiety impossible to describe.
Beside him stood Dorothy, with tears trickling down her face, for the
child, though too young to comprehend its meaning, was affected by the
solemnity of the scene, and by her aunt's quiet grief.
Virginia was kneeling at the foot of the bed, her face buried in her
hands, in an endeavor to stifle her sobs, while Mrs. Harris looked
ruefully out of the window.
Several times the doctor moved only to place his ear close to
Constance's heart, and again he would place his hand there and press
gently. Now and again he moistened her lips with a piece of ice and
cooled the damp cloth on her hot brow.
At a moment when least expected, she moaned and then her chest heaved
with a light breath. Quietly she opened her eyes and looked slowly
around. There, before her, stood John and Dorothy. Her eyes rested on
them. She recognized them and smiled faintly and said feebly, scarcely
above a whisper, "Dorothy, darling, and John!"
"Safe," announced the doctor, and his face, beaming with confidence,
carried joy to the little group of anxious watchers.