"I had her in my arms not a moment ago!" she insisted. "See! the
print of her little head is here on my breast! You have taken her
away among you! I saw it all--those who ordered that it should be
done and those who did it, when I was too weak to hold her, or to
keep them back!"
And passing from the height of furious invective to deadly and
earnest calm, she told them off upon her fingers.
"Clara Aylett! Rosa Tazewell! Winston Aylett! (he married Clara
Louise Dorrance, you know!) Herbert Dorrance! JULIUS LENNOX!"
The household was astir by this time, and Mrs. Aylett entered from
the hall as her brother did from his bedroom. There was but one
spectator who was sufficiently composed to note and marvel at the
scared look exchanged by the two at the sound of the last name. This
was Mr. Aylett, who, from his position behind his wife, had an
excellent view of all the actors in the exciting tableau before she
fell back, swooning, in his arms.
He was alone with her in their chamber when she revived, and the
earliest effort of her restored consciousness was to seize both his
hands in hers, and scan his face searchingly--it would seem
agonizingly--until his fond smile dispelled the unspoken dread.
"Ah!" she murmured, hiding her face upon his bosom, "she is still
alive, then! I thought--I thought"--a mighty sob--"Don't despise
your weak, silly wife, darling! but it was very terrible! I believed
it was the last struggle, and was appalled at the sight. And my poor
Herbert! he was frightfully overcome. Did you notice him? Will you
send him to me, dear? I can soothe him better than any one
else--prepare him for what is, I fear, inevitable. I shall not give
way again to my terrors."
The brother and sister were still together when word was brought,
two hours later that Mabel had fallen into a profound sleep--a good
omen, the doctor said.
"Thank Heaven!" ejaculated Herbert, fervently, his eyes softening
until he turned away to conceal his emotion.
He was haggard with solicitude, while Mrs. Aylett's healthful bloom
betokened slight interest in the termination of the seizure, a
glance at which had thrown her into a faint. Nor did she echo the
thanksgiving. She waited until the messenger had gone, and continued
the conversation her entrance had interrupted.
"I incline to the belief that she caught the name, in some manner,
on Christmas before last. HE was delirious, too, and although doctor
and nurse reported that he did not speak articulately after he was
brought in, she may have heard more than they. From what has been
told me, I gather that she was in the room with him alone, while
Mrs. Sutton was down-stairs looking for Dr. Ritchie. In a lucid
interval he may have given his name--possibly some particulars of
his history. Unless--are you positive there has been no indiscretion
on your part, or that others may have talked negligently to her,
because she was a member of the family?"