le; for all along
she felt that she had no real grasp on the scenes that were passing
through her mind--that, somehow, they were long gone by, and gone by
for ever--and yet she could not remember who she was now, nor where
she was, and whether she had now any interests in life to take the
place of those which she was conscious had passed away, although
their remembrance filled her mind with painful acuteness. Her head
lay on her arms, and they rested on the table. Every now and then she
opened her eyes, and saw the large room, handsomely furnished with
articles that were each one incongruous with the other, as if bought
at sales. She saw the flickering night-light--she heard the ticking
of the watch, and the two breathings, each going on at a separate
rate--one hurried, abruptly stopping, and then panting violently, as
if to make up for lost time; and the other slow, steady, and regular,
as if the breather was asleep; but this supposition was contradicted
by an occasional repressed sound of yawning. The sky through the
uncurtained window looked dark and black--would this night never have
an end? Had the sun gone down for ever, and would the world at last
awaken to a general sense of everlasting night?

Then she felt as if she ought to get up, and go and see how the
troubled sleeper in yonder bed was struggling through his illness;
but she could not remember who the sleeper was, and she shrunk
from seeing some phantom-face on the pillow, such as now began to
haunt the dark corners of the room, and look at her, jibbering and
mowing as they looked. So she covered her face again, and sank into
a whirling stupor of sense and feeling. By-and-by she heard her
fellow-watcher stirring, and a dull wonder stole over her as to what
he was doing; but the heavy languor pressed her down, and kept her
still. At last she heard the words, "Come here," and listlessly
obeyed the command. She had to steady herself in the rocking chamber
before she could walk to the bed by which Mr Davis stood; but
the effort to do so roused her, and, although conscious of an
oppressive headache, she viewed with sudden and clear vision all the
circumstances of her present position. Mr Davis was near the head of
the bed, holding the night-lamp high, and shading it with his hand,
that it might not disturb the sick person, who lay with his face
towards them, in feeble exhaustion, but with every sign that the
violence of the fever had left him. It so happened t