A single candle at the farther end threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the room in a dim twilight.
As Mr.Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman--the one who had spoken to me below--rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room by a second door.

My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure in the bed, called out: "Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you." He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: "He seems to be dozing as usual.

Will you go and see what you can make of him ?" I stepped forward to the bedside, leaving Mr.Weiss at the end of the room near the door by which we had entered, where he remained, slowly and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi-obscurity.

By the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a refined, intelligent and even attractive face, but dreadfully emaciated, bloodless and sallow.

He lay quite motionless except for the scarcely perceptible rise and fall of his chest; his eyes were nearly closed, his features relaxed, and, though he was not actually asleep, he seemed to be in a dreamy, somnolent, lethargic state, as if under the influence of some narcotic.
I watched him for a minute or so, timing his slow breathing by my watch, and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name; but the only response was a slight lifting of the eyelids, which, after a brief, drowsy glance at me, slowly subsided to their former position.
I now proceeded to make a physical examination.