han strength, while all the fatigue he
had been undergoing was likely to tell upon him now. She did not
look forward, she did not look round; she did not hope or fear; she
_trusted_, and did her best for each, as she was wanted, trying not to
make herself useless to both, by showing that she wished to be in two
places at once.

It was a day sufficiently distressing in itself had there been no
further apprehension, for there was the restlessness of illness, working
on a character too active and energetic to acquiesce without a trial in
the certainty that there was no remedy for present discomfort. There was
no impatience nor rebellion against the illness itself, but a wish to
try one after another the things that had been effective in relieving
Philip during his recovery. At the same time, he could not bear that
Amabel should do anything to tire herself, and was very anxious that
Philip should not be neglected. He tossed from one side to the other
in burning oppression or cold chills; Amy saw him looking wistful,
suggested something by way of alleviation, then found he had been
wishing for it, but refraining from asking in order to spare her, and
that he was sorry when she procured it. Again and again this happened;
she smoothed the coverings, and shook up the pillow: he would thank
her, look at her anxiously, beg her not to exert herself, but soon grew
restless, and the whole was repeated.

At last, as she was trying to arrange the coverings, he exclaimed,--

'I see how it is. This is impatience. Now, I will not stir for an hour,'
and as he made the resolution, he smiled at treating himself so like a
child. His power of self-restraint came to his aid, and long before the
hour was over he had fallen asleep.

This was a relief; yet that oppressed, flushed, discomposed slumber, and
heavy breathing only confirmed her fears that the fever had gained full
possession of him. She had not the heart to write such tidings, at least
till the physician should have made them too certain, nor could she even
bear to use the word 'feverish,' in her answers to the anxious inquiries
Philip made whenever she went into his room, though when he averted his
face with a heavy sigh, she knew his conclusion was the same as her own.

The opinion of the physician was the only thing wanting to bring home
the certainty, and that fell on her like lead in the evening; with one
comfort, however, that he thought it a less severe case than the former