"Perhaps she will die herself, mother. Ducie says she has hurt her brain in falling--a concussion, she said." "Not a bad concussion, though----" "No, a slight one, but one never knows, and she is so excitable----" Thus they comforted each other until the porters arrived, and went upstairs for the mattress. Their rough voices and heavy feet, and the natural confusion attending their business roused Mrs. Campbell and her daughters to a pitch of distraction, only to be relieved by motion and loud talking. Walking up and down the room, and striking her large cruel hands together, Mrs. Campbell was heard above all the confusion attending the removal of Theodora; and in the midst of this confusion, Robert came home. "Whatever is the matter, Jepson?" he asked in an angry voice. "The doctor will tell you, sir. I fear my young mistress is dying." He did not answer, but went rapidly to his rooms. They were in the utmost disorder, the windows open and the rooms empty. He rushed upstairs then, and Dr. Fleming met him at the door of Theodora's room. "Doctor, where is my wife? What is wrong?" "She had a long fainting fit, fell heavily, and has, I fear, slight concussion of the brain." "What cause, what reason was there?" "Her maid will tell you. I will send her." "But I must see my wife first!" "You cannot. I shall stay here until I judge it safe to leave her. I have sent for a competent nurse, and expect her every moment." "Surely, doctor--there is no fear--of death." "I should not like another lapse of consciousness." Robert did not speak. He steadied himself by grasping the baluster, and the doctor left him, and sent out Ducie. "How did this happen, Ducie?" he asked. Then Ducie told him everything. She described the way her mistress was sitting, and the entrance of Mrs. Campbell. She remembered the words, and the tones in which the conversation had taken place, and the inability of her mistress to answer the last two questions--the snatching of the book from the table, and the flinging of it to the end of the room, and after an emphatic pause she added: "The book was the Bible, sir." Campbell had not spoken a word during Ducie's recital, but at her last remark he started as if shocked, and then said: "You have told me the truth, Ducie?" "Nothing but the truth. Ask Jepson." "I believe you. Go back to your mistress, and as soon as it is possible tell her I was at the door but not allowed to enter." Then he went slowly downstairs, and the talking and exclamations ceased sharply and suddenly when he entered the dining-room, for his face, and his intentional silence, was like that which Isabel had not inaptly compared to a black frost. After a short interval, during which he had frozen every one dumb, he looked steadily at Mrs. Campbell and said: "Mother, I am amazed at what I hear."