Part 37 (1/2)
”Just struck five, sir.”
”What, five in the afternoon?” Ralph exclaimed.
”Yes, sir.”
”I have slept,” Ralph said, with a laugh. ”However, I feel all right again, now.
”Is my brother up?”
”No, sir,” the man said.
”Percy!” Ralph shouted, ”It is five o'clock in the afternoon. Get up.”
”The other gentleman is not in the next room, sir,” the servant said.
”Is he not?” Ralph said, puzzled. ”I was desperately sleepy last night, certainly; but not too sleepy, I should have thought, to have made a mistake about that. I feel sure he was in the next room.”
”He was, sir,” the servant said, ”but Doctor Marcey, when he came to see you--just after you got into bed--ordered him to be carried at once into another room, in order that he might not disturb you.
He said it was essential that you should have your sleep out, undisturbed.”
”But why should my brother disturb me?” Ralph asked, anxiously. ”Is he not well?”
”No, sir, he has got fever. He has been calling out, a great deal.
He has got two sisters with him, and the doctor has been every hour.”
By this time Ralph was out of bed.
”Here are some clothes, sir,” the man said, handing them to him.
”The landlord thought you would want some at once, when you woke; and ordered three or four suits for you to try.”
Ralph seized the first that came to hand, and threw them on.
”All Paris was talking about your getting through the enemy, last night, sir. There have been hundreds of people here to call.”
Ralph did not even hear what was said.
”Now,” he said, ”take me to him, at once.”
The servant led Ralph along a pa.s.sage and stopped at a door, at which he knocked. A Sister of Mercy opened the door.
”This is the other gentleman.”
The sister opened the door for Ralph to enter.
”He is quiet now,” she said, in a soft, compa.s.sionate tone.
Ralph went into the room. Percy lay in the bed, with his head surrounded with ice. His face was flushed, and his eyes wild. He was moving uneasily about, talking to himself.
”It is that schoolmaster who is at the bottom of it,” he muttered.