row bed against the wall, fixed
in one position, his forehead contracted with pain, his eyelids red and
heavy from sleeplessness, his eyes very quick and eager, and his hands
and arms thrown restlessly outside the coverings.

'I am very sorry to find you here,' said Philip, coming up to him, and
taking, rather than receiving, his hot, limp hand. 'Is the pain very
bad?'

'That is a matter of course,' said Charles, in a sharp, quick manner,
his voice full of suffering. 'I want to hear what you have been doing at
Oxford and St. Mildred's.'

'I am sorry I do not bring the tidings you wish.'

'I did not expect you would. I know you too well; but I want to hear
what you have been doing--what he said,' answered Charles, in short,
impatient sentences.

'It can be of no use, Charlie. You are not in a state to enter on
agitating subjects.'

'I tell you I will hear all,' returned Charles, with increased asperity.
'I know you will say nothing to his advantage that you can help, but
still I know you will speak what you think the truth, and I want to
judge for myself.'

'You speak as if I was not acting for his good.'

'Palaver!' cried Charles, fully sensible of the advantage his illness
gave him. 'I want the facts. Begin at the beginning. Sit down--there's a
chair by you. Now tell me, where did you find him?'

Philip could not set Charles down in his present state, and was obliged
to submit to a cross-examination, in which he showed no abatement of his
natural acuteness, and, unsparing as he always was, laid himself under
no restraint at all. Philip was compelled to give a full history of his
researches; and if he had afforded no triumph to Guy, Charles revenged
him.

'Pray, what did Guy say when he heard the result of this fine voyage of
discovery?'

'I did not see him again.'

'Not see him! not tell him he was so far justified!'

'I had no time--at least I thought not. It would have been useless, for
while these mysteries continue, my opinion is unchanged, and there was
no benefit in renewing vain disputes.'

'Say no more!' exclaimed Charles. 'You have said all I expected, and
more too. I gave you credit for domineering and prejudice, now I see it
is malignity.'

As he spoke, Laura entered from the dressing-room, and stood aghast at
the words, and then looked imploringly at her cousin. Dr. Mayerne was
following her, and Charles called out,--

'Now, doctor, give me as much opium as you please. I only want to b