so, that such
considerations were as nothing when weighed in the scale against
Frederick's life; she was silenced, but unconvinced, and unhappy till
her son Geoffrey, coming down late to breakfast, greatly comforted
her by letting her make him some fresh toast with her own hands, and
persuading her that it would be greatly in favour of Philip's practice
that his opinion should be confirmed by an authority of note.

The electric telegraph and the railroad brought the surgeon even before
she had begun seriously to expect him, and his opinion was completely
satisfactory as far as regarded Philip Carey and the measures already
taken; Uncle Geoffrey himself feeling convinced that his approval was
genuine, and not merely assumed for courtesy's sake. He gave them, too,
more confident hope of the patient than Philip, in his diffidence, had
ventured to do, saying that though there certainly was concussion of the
brain, he thought there was great probability that the patient would do
well, provided that they could combat the feverish symptoms which had
begun to appear. He consulted with Philip Carey, the future treatment
was agreed upon, and he left them with cheered and renewed spirits to
enter on a long and anxious course of attendance. Roger, who was obliged
to go away the next day, cheered up his brother Alex into a certainty
that Fred would be about again in a week, and though no one but the boys
shared the belief, yet the assurances of any one so sanguine, inspired
them all with something like hope.

The attendance at first fell almost entirely on Mrs. Frederick
Langford and Uncle Geoffrey, for the patient, who had now recovered a
considerable degree of consciousness, would endure no one else. If his
mother's voice did not answer him the first moment, he instantly grew
restless and uneasy, and the plaintive inquiry, "Is Uncle Geoffrey
here?" was many times repeated. He would recognise Henrietta, but his
usual answer to her was "You speak so loud;" though in reality, her tone
was almost exactly the same as her mother's; and above all others he
disliked the presence of Philip Carey.

"Who is that?" inquired he, the first time that he was at all conscious
of the visits of other people: and when his mother explained, he asked
quickly, "Is he gone?"

The next day, Fred was alive to all that was going on, but suffering
considerable pain, and with every sense quickened to the most acute and
distressing degree, his eyes dazzled