DINA. CHAPTER XXI. THE library being the quietest room on the ground floor, Calvert was taken to it. They laid him carefully on a sofa. He was still quite insensible, and it did not appear that anything could be done to relieve him until, at least, the arrival of the doctor. The girls continued, however, to keep his head cool by occasionally moistening it with a sponge dipped in vinegar and water. Mr. Grange, who had met the procession in the avenue, felt Archer's pulse, and gravely expressed a hope that the stupor might gradually pass off. He helped to draw the sofa to the most convenient spot, and to adjust the cushions. Marian, who was proud of him at all times, almost forgot the patient for a moment in admiring the facility with which her massive, and not unfrequently boisterous father adapted his strength to the occasion. He moved Archer into the easiest position with the utmost gentleness, and was quite as tender in his touch as the girls themselves. When nothing more could be done by him, he seated himself at the window to wait. Marian at the same time drew a stool to the head of the couch, and, while she watched, now and then applied her sponge to the VOL. II. A |