as by no means
improbable, Sir X. persuaded himself, as he counted over all the different
stages of peril that stood between him and convalescence. 'We have now the
concussion, with reasonable prospect of meningitis; and there may come on
erysipelas from the scalp wounds, and high fever, with all its dangers;
next there may be a low typhoid state, with high nervous excitement;
and through all these the passing risks of the wrong food or drink, the
imprudent revelations, or the mistaken stimulants. Heigh-ho!' said he at
last, 'we come through storm and shipwreck, forlorn-hopes, and burning
villages, and we succumb to ten drops too much of a dark-brown liquor, or
the improvident rashness that reads out a note to us incautiously!

'Those young ladies thought to mystify me,' said he aloud, after a long
reverie. 'I was not to know which of them was in love with the sick boy. I
could make nothing of the Greek, I own, for, except a half-stealthy
regard for myself, she confessed to nothing, and the other was nearly as
inscrutable. It was only the little warmth at last that betrayed her. I
hurt her pride, and as she winced, I said, "There's the sore spot--there's
mischief there!" How the people grope their way through life who have never
studied physic nor learned physiology is a puzzle to _me_! With all its aid
and guidance I find humanity quite hard enough to understand every day I
live.'

Even in his few hours' visit--in which he remarked everything, from the
dress of the man who waited at dinner, to the sherry decanter with the
smashed stopper, the weak 'Gladstone' that did duty as claret, and the
cotton lace which Nina sported as 'point d'Alencon,' and numberless other
shifts, such as people make who like to play false money with Fortune--all
these he saw, and he saw that a certain jealous rivalry existed between the
two girls; but whether either of them, or both, cared for young O'Shea, he
could not declare; and, strange as it may seem, his inability to determine
this weighed upon him with all the sense of a defeat.

CHAPTER LVIII

IN TURKEY

Leaving the sick man to the tender care of those ladies whose division of
labour we have just hinted at, we turn to other interests, and to one of
our characters, who, though to all seeming neglected, has not lapsed from
our memory.

Joe Atlee had been despatched on a very confidential mission by Lord
Danesbury. Not only was he to repossess himself of certain papers he h