'Shall I send you up some soup?'

'No; I could not touch it.'

'You are not going to remain in the dark? Let me light a night-light?'

'No, thank you; I like the dark.'




XVIII


Hubert and Mrs. Bentley stood by the chimney-piece in the drawing-room,
waiting for the doctor; they had left him with Emily, and stood facing each
other absorbed in thought, when the door opened, and the doctor entered.
Hubert said--

'What do you think, Doctor? Is she seriously ill?'

'There is nothing, so far as I can make out, organically the matter with
her, but the system is running down. She is very thin and weak. I shall
prescribe a tonic, but----'

'But what, doctor?'

'She seems to be suffering from extreme depression of spirits. Do you know
of any secret grief--any love affair? At her age, anything of that sort
fills the entire mind, and the consequences are often grave.'