So disturbed at that was Gregory's spirit that, forgetting his
wound, his fever, and the death which he had believed
impending, he leapt from his couch, and throwing wide the door,
bellowed lustily for Stephen. In frightened haste came his
henchman to answer the petulant summons, and in obedience to
Gregory's commands he went off again as quickly in quest of
Catherine - Cynthia's woman.

Between them they bore the unconscious girl to her chamber,
leaving Gregory to curse himself for having been lured into a
confession that it now seemed to him had been unnecessary,
since in his newly found vitality he realized that death was
none so near a thing as that scoundrelly fool of a leech had
led him to believe.




CHAPTER XXIV

THE WOOING OF CYNTHIA


Cynthia's swoon was after all but brief. Upon recovering
consciousness her first act was to dismiss her woman. She had
need to be alone - the need of the animal that is wounded to
creep into its lair and hide itself. And so alone with her
sorrow she sat through that long day.

That her father's condition was grievous she knew to be untrue,