n hour ago
when on awaking I saw two men who told me they were doctors, and who
seemed frightfully interested in my condition.'

Dr. Merril went out of the room as he spoke, leaving us together.

'Has anything particular happened to me, Luscombe? You needn't be afraid
to tell me, man; I am all right.'

'Have you no remembrance of anything yourself?' I said.

'Nothing, except that I was attacked by a horrible pain, and that I
became blind. After that I think my senses must have left me, for I can
remember nothing more.'

I looked at him eagerly. I remembered Colonel McClure's injunction, and
yet I was more anxious than I can say to ask him questions.

'Did you feel nothing before the pain?'

'I felt awfully languid,' he replied, after a few seconds' silence, 'but
nothing more.'

He lifted himself up in the bed, and I could not help noticing that his
face looked younger, and that his skin was almost natural. The old,
parched look had largely passed away; it might have been as though a new
and rejuvenating force had entered his system.

'Springfield and I are in for a big battle.'

I wondered whether he knew anything of my suspicions, and whether by some
means or another the thoughts which haunted not only my mind, but that of
Colonel McClure, had somehow reached his.

'Springfield means to have her, but I am not going to let him.'

'You are thinking about Miss Bolivick,' I said.

'Who else?' And his face flushed as he spoke. 'When I saw her first, I
was hopeless, but now----'

'Yes, now,' I repeated, as I saw him hesitate, 'what now?'

For the moment I had forgotten all about his illness. I did not realize
that I might be doing wrong by allowing him to excite himself.

'Buller is not the danger,' he cried; 'he is but a puppet in
Springfield's hands. There's something between that man and me which I
can't explain; but there's going to be a battle royal between us. He
means to marry Lorna Bolivick. In his own way he has fallen in love with
her. But he shall never have her.'

'How are you going to stop him?' I asked.

I saw his lips quiver, while his eyes burnt with the light of resolution.

'Surely you do not mean,' I went on, 'that you hope to marry her?'

'I not only hope to,--I mean to,' he said.

I was silent for a few seconds. I did not want to hinder his recovery,
by saying anything which might cause him to despair, but the thing which
had been born in his mind seemed so senseless,