While Quentin cheerfully declared that he would be himself before night, Dickey was in a doleful state of mind and ventured the opinion that he was “in for a rough spell of sickness.”  What distresed the Saxondales most was the dismal certainty that a doctor could not be called to the castle.  If Quentin were to become seriously ill, the situation would develop into something extremely embarrassing.

He insisted on coming downstairs about noon, and laughed at the remonstrances of Lord Bob and Dickey, who urged him to remain in bed for a day or two, at least.  His cough was a cruel one, and his eyes were bright with the fever that raced through his system.  The medicine chest offered its quinine and its plasters for his benefit, and there was in the air the tense anxiety that is felt when a child is ill and the outcome is in doubt.  The friends of this strong, stubborn and all-important sick man could not conceal the fact that they were nervous and that they dreaded the probability of disaster in the shape of serious illness.  His croaking laugh, his tearing cough and that flushed face caused Dorothy more pain than she was willing to admit, even to herself.

As night drew near she quivered with excitement.  Was she to leave the castle?  Would the priest come for her?  Above all, would he be accompanied by a force of officers large enough to storm the castle and overpower its inmates?  What would the night bring forth?  And what would be the stand, the course, taken by this defiant sick man, this man with two fevers in his blood?

She had not seen or spoken to him during the day, but she had frequently passed by the door of the library in which he sat and talked with the other men.  An irresistible longing to speak to him, to tell him how much she regretted his illness, came over her.  There was in her heart a strange tenderness, a hungry desire to comfort him just the least bit before she took the flight that was to destroy the hope his daring and skillfully executed scheme had inspired.

Three times she hesitated in front of the library door, but her courage was not as strong as her desire.  Were he alone she could have gone in and told him frankly that she would not expose him to the law in the event that she ever had the opportunity.  But the other men were with him.  Besides, his cough was so distressing that natural pity for one suffering physical pain would have made it impossible to talk to him with the essential show of indifference.

At last, in despair, she left Lady Saxondale and her companion in the courtyard and started up the stairs, resolved to be as far as possible from the sound of that cough.  Quentin met her at the foot of the steps.

“I’m going to lie down awhile,” he said, wearily.  “They seem to be worried about this confounded cold, and I’ll satisfy them by packing myself away in bed.”

“You should be very careful, Phil,” she said, a suffocating feeling in her throat.  “Your cough is frightful, and they say you have a fever.  Do be reasonable.”