is moment. Fly!"

Polly obeyed, and Doctor Andrews was actually in the room within five
minutes.

He looked grave, and kneeled down by the patient, and felt his pulse
anxiously.

Miss Somerset sat down, and, being from the country, though she did not
look it, began to weep bitterly, and rock herself in rustic fashion.

The doctor questioned her kindly, and she told him, between her sobs,
how Sir Charles had been taken.

The doctor, however, instead of being alarmed by those frightful
symptoms she related, took a more cheerful view directly. "Then do not
alarm yourself unnecessarily," he said. "It was only an epileptic fit."

"Only!" sobbed Miss Somerset. "Oh, if you had seen him! And he lies
like death."

"Yes," said Dr. Andrews; "a severe epileptic fit is really a terrible
thing to look at; but it is not dangerous in proportion. Is he used to
have them?"

"Oh, no, doctor--never had one before."

Here she was mistaken, I think.

"You must keep him quiet; and give him a moderate stimulant as soon as
he can swallow comfortably; the quietest room in the house; and don't
let him be hungry, night or day. Have food by his bedside, and watch
him for a day or two. I'll come again this evening."

The doctor went to his dinner--tranquil.

Not so those he left. Miss Somerset resigned her own luxurious bedroom,
and had the patient laid, just as he was, upon her bed. She sent the
page out to her groom and ordered two loads of straw to be laid before
the door; and she watched by the sufferer, with brandy and water by her
side.

Sir Charles now might have seemed to be in a peaceful slumber, but for
his eyes. They were open, and showed more white, and less pupil, than
usual.

However, in time he began to sigh and move, and even mutter; and,
gradually, some little color came back to his pale cheeks.

Then Miss Somerset had the good sense to draw back out of his sight,
and order Polly to take her place by his side. Polly did so, and, some
time afterward, at a fresh order, put a teaspoonful of brandy to his
lips, which were still pale and even bluish.

The doctor returned, and brought his assistant. They put the patient to
bed.

"His life is in no danger," said he. "I wish I was as sure about his
reason."

At one o'clock in the morning, as Polly was snoring by the patient's
bedside, a hand was laid on her shoulder. It was Rhoda.

"Go to bed, Polly: you are no use here."

"You'd be sleepy if you worked as ha