Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Dr. Courtland said the judge's eye was clearing but they just needed to give it more time. Laurel didn't share the doctor's opinion. To her mind, her father was paying some unspoken price for his recovery. Day after day, he lay still, full of effort yet motionless. He looked more tired every day and swallowed his food obediently. She was almost embarrassed that she had to watch him in this state. Obedience and passivity were never traits that this man exhibited.

One day she found a copy of Nicholas Nickleby, feeling sure that it would revive his memory a little. She read and he watched her with his good eye but she wasn't sure he was listening to the words. The judge had long ago developed a capacity for patience but to Laurel it seemed as if he were lying in...