Ben made no reply, but bent over me and kissed me tenderly.
All this time Miss Prior had slept the sleep of the just; but he had barely gone when she started up and said, "Did you call, my dear ?" "No, it is day." "So it is; but you must sleep more." I could not obey, and kept awake so long that Dr.White said he himself should go crazy unless I slept.
"Presently, presently," I reiterated; "and am I going home ?" At last my mind went astray; it journeyed into a dismal world, and came back without an account of its adventures.

While it was gone, my friends were summoned to witness a contest, where the odds were in favor of death.

But I recovered.

Whether it was youth, a good constitution, or the skill of Dr.White, no one could decide.

It was a faint, feeble, fluttering return at first.