eakfast upstairs by a
chambermaid, but Ruth motioned it away in her sick agony, and the
girl had no right to urge her to partake of it. That alone broke the
monotony of the long morning. She heard the sound of merry parties
setting out on excursions, on horseback or in carriages; and once,
stiff and wearied, she stole to the window, and looked out on one
side of the blind; but the day looked bright and discordant to her
aching, anxious heart. The gloom of the darkened room was better and
more befitting.

It was some hours after he was summoned before the doctor made his
appearance. He questioned his patient, and, receiving no coherent
answers, he asked Ruth concerning the symptoms; but when she
questioned him in turn he only shook his head and looked grave. He
made a sign to Mrs Morgan to follow him out of the room, and they
went down to her parlour, leaving Ruth in a depth of despair, lower
than she could have thought it possible there remained for her to
experience, an hour before.

"I am afraid this is a bad case," said Mr Jones to Mrs Morgan in
Welsh. "A brain-fever has evidently set in."

"Poor young gentleman! poor young man! He looked the very picture of
health!"

"That very appearance of robustness will, in all probability, make
his disorder more violent. However, we must hope for the best, Mrs
Morgan. Who is to attend upon him? He will require careful nursing.
Is that young lady his sister? She looks too young to be his wife?"

"No, indeed! Gentlemen like you must know, Mr Jones, that we can't
always look too closely into the ways of young men who come to
our houses. Not but what I'm sorry for her, for she's an innocent,
inoffensive young creature. I always think it right, for my own
morals, to put a little scorn into my manners when such as her come
to stay here; but, indeed, she's so gentle, I've found it hard work
to show the proper contempt."

She would have gone on to her inattentive listener if she had not
heard a low tap at the door, which recalled her from her morality,
and Mr Jones from his consideration of the necessary prescriptions.

"Come in!" said Mrs Morgan, sharply. And Ruth came in. She was white
and trembling; but she stood in that dignity which strong feeling,
kept down by self-command, always imparts.

"I wish you, sir, to be so kind as to tell me, clearly and
distinctly, what I must do for Mr Bellingham. Every direction
you give me shall be most carefully attended to. You spoke a