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 assistance, 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 quantity. The
only thing I can see is that the chemist must have made some terrible
mistake. Ha!" he ejaculated at last, as he sat holding his patient's
hand, "that's better. The paroxysms of pain have passed 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 passed 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
circumstances, 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.