"Look here, Pengelly, my head's all in a whirl. I'm ill. I hardly know what I am saying. How came I here?" "I carried you here mostly, Master Trethick, sir, after you come away from An Morlock." "Did I go to An Morlock?" "Yes, sir, I s'pose so--to say the mine was flooded." "Yes, of course, the mine was flooded; but did I go to Mr Penwynn's?" "Yes, sir, in a state such as I had never believed I could see you, sir--full of drink." "What?" "I suppose you had been taking it to make you forget the trouble, sir. That drop I gave you at the furnace--" "Ah, to be sure," cried Geoffrey, who saw more clearly now--"that brandy." "Wouldn't have hurt a child, sir," said the miner, bitterly. "But it sent my two men to sleep. What time is it now--three--four?" he cried, gazing at the window. "It's ten o'clock, sir, and you've been since two yesterday sleeping it off." "Then that stuff was drugged," cried Geoffrey. "Here, Pengelly, may I wash here? I must go up to An Morlock directly." There was a knocking on the door below, and Pengelly descended, while Trethick tried to clear his head by drinking copiously of the cold water, and then bathing his face and head. "Good heavens! If I went up to An Morlock in such a state what would they think? How unfortunate. Every thing goes wrong." The cold water did clear his dull brain somewhat, but his lips and throat were parched, and he felt terribly ill. So confused was he still, that for the time he had forgotten all about Madge Mullion, while the proceedings of the previous day seemed to him to be seen through a mist, and the more he tried, the worse confusion he was in. One thing, however, was certain, and that was that he must go up to An Morlock at once, and see Mr Penwynn about the mine. "Humph! here is a comb," he said. "I'll straighten a little, and then run up home, and--" He dropped the comb and caught at the window-sill, where a little glass was standing, for as he mentioned that word home, he felt giddy, and back, like a flash, came the recollection of all that had passed. He had no home to go to. Rhoda must have heard of that awkward incident, and he had been up to An Morlock while under the influence of a drug. "Feel giddy, sir?" said a voice. "I'll give you a cup of tea before you go away; but here's Mr Penwynn's man been with a letter for you." Geoffrey caught the letter from the bearer's hands, and, with a terrible feeling of dread oppressing him, tore it open, and read it through twice before he fully realised its meaning. It was very short but to the point, and Geoffrey seemed to see the stern-looking writer as the words gradually took shape and meaning.