His wife's screams brought the neighbours to the spot, and they got the sick man into the house and put him in bed, where he was now lying perfectly unconscious. He was still living, but he could not possibly recover. His wife was no true wife to him, but a worthless, miserable creature. Instead of taking care of her husband, she had left him. As soon as he was got to bed she had ordered a conveyance from the Post; and the postmaster had provided it immediately, for he thought she wanted to send for a doctor. But the wretched woman had never thought of doing so; she had packed up her clothing and various other articles in a hurry, and had driven off no one knew whither. She had told the servant-girl to take care of the doctor and to send for another physician, but that he would certainly not last long. And so the poor man was lying in bed, unconscious, with no one but the servant to attend to him. The postmaster, however, for old acquaintance' sake, had sent another conveyance for Dr. Atzinger. Dr. Atzinger had just left the sick man, and had said that he might get over the stroke this time, but that he never would have the use of his limbs, and that no one must be allowed to see him. All this the postmaster related to Delmar, who thus found himself deprived of any hope of immediate aid from Dr. Putzer in his investigations. This did not trouble him, however, since he had only been interested to fulfil his promise to Leo, and he was rather relieved to feel entirely free to devote himself to his friend's affairs. Upon his return to the inn, Delmar found the entire Schommer family at dinner with Herwarth upon the balcony. Bertram alone was missing; he had not returned from an expedition to some cascades which he had undertaken that morning; indeed, a messenger had arrived from him saying that he had gone on to Rothwald, whence he should make a mountain-ascent, which would probably detain him there until the following day. Uncle Balthasar told Delmar of this, lamenting that 'dear Guido' could not join their little circle, but he was the only one who regretted his absence; the others all felt relieved in the consciousness that they should not see Bertram for some hours at least. Kuno had enjoyed himself greatly during Paul's absence. Eva declared with a smile that all the ladies had bestowed upon the invalid their tenderest solicitude, and had succeeded in compelling him to comply with the orders of his physician, although he was at times a most unruly patient, in his determination to prevent them from exerting themselves in his behalf.