Cyril returned.  “Not yet!” he was saying—­when he saw the paper lying on the counter.  His crest fell.

Long after the shop was shut, Constance and Cyril waited in the parlour for the arrival of the master of the house.  Constance was in the blackest despair.  She saw nothing but death around her.  She thought:  misfortunes never come singly.  Why did not Samuel come?  All was ready for him, everything that her imagination could suggest, in the way of food, remedies, and the means of warmth.  Amy was not allowed to go to bed, lest she might be needed.  Constance did not even hint that Cyril should go to bed.  The dark, dreadful minutes ticked themselves off on the mantelpiece until only five minutes separated Constance from the moment when she would not know what to do next.  It was twenty-five minutes past eleven.  If at half-past Samuel did not appear, then he could not come that night, unless the last train from Stafford was inconceivably late.

The sound of a carriage!  It ceased at the door.  Mother and son sprang up.

Yes, it was Samuel!  She beheld him once more.  And the sight of his condition, moral and physical, terrified her.  His great strapping son and Amy helped him upstairs.  “Will he ever come down those stairs again?” This thought lanced Constance’s heart.  The pain was come and gone in a moment, but it had surprised her tranquil commonsense, which was naturally opposed to, and gently scornful of, hysterical fears.  As she puffed, with her stoutness, up the stairs, that bland cheerfulness of hers cost her an immense effort of will.  She was profoundly troubled; great disasters seemed to be slowly approaching her from all quarters.

Should she send for the doctor?  No.  To do so would only be a concession to the panic instinct.  She knew exactly what was the matter with Samuel:  a severe cough persistently neglected, no more.  As she had expressed herself many times to inquirers, “He’s never been what you may call ill.”  Nevertheless, as she laid him in bed and possetted him, how frail and fragile he looked!  And he was so exhausted that he would not even talk about the trial.

“If he’s not better to-morrow I shall send for the doctor!” she said to herself.  As for his getting up, she swore she would keep him in bed by force if necessary.

IV

The next morning she was glad and proud that she had not yielded to a scare.  For he was most strangely and obviously better.  He had slept heavily, and she had slept a little.  True that Daniel was condemned to death!  Leaving Daniel to his fate, she was conscious of joy springing in her heart.  How absurd to have asked herself:  “Will he ever come down those stairs again?”!