Free The Loving Cup by Winston Graham

perceptible pulse. The pupils were dilated and turned up, the tongue was just showing between the decayed teeth. Dwight took a hand mirror and held it to the man's bluish lips. After a few seconds the mirror became discoloured.
    Dwight said: 'Warming pans, if you please.'. He rummaged in his bag and took out a bottle of ethyl oxide, spilled a few drops on a pad and held it to Mr Pope's nose. Over his shoulder he said: 'He has clearly had a severe spasm and has not come out of it yet. Has he been taking some exceptional exercise or been involved in emotional strain?'
    'Not at all,' Mrs Pope said. 'He retired at seven. This has been his habit since you first saw him. In that sense he has been a very good patient. I - er-took my supper downstairs and as usual his was sent up. Apparently he ate it. When I have finished my own meal I always come up to make sure that he is comfortable and wants for nothing. I found him like this, where he had fallen, on the threshold of his bedroom. We lifted him onto the bed and sent Thomas in haste to fetch you. I - feared him dead.'
    Dwight put a few drops of laudanum in a spoon, dipped his fingers in it and dabbed it on the old man's lips and tongue. 'The bell pull is by his bed. He had no need to get up.'
    'None.' She shivered as if cold, pulled her green Chinese-silk morning gown more closely about her. Sometimes her long fair hair was elaborately built up, but this evening it was twisted into a casual pile and pinned in place by an ebony-coloured Spanish comb. 'He never leaves his room after retiring, Dr Enys. At least I have never known it before. But since he was not bedridden I suppose he could do so if he chose.' 'Are his children here?'
    'No. They are spending the night with the Teagues.'
    ‘I think they should be summoned.'
    'Tonight? They will be returning in the morning.'
    'Well, it is for you to choose, Mrs P ope. But when a man is in such a condition as this—which is virtually syncope '
    'Does that mean?...' Mrs Pope said. 'Does that mean he is going to die?'
    'We cannot tell. But it has certainly been a very close call.'
    Mrs Pope began to cry. At least she took out a handkerchief and dabbed her nose, and gave an occasional trembling sigh. Dwight held the mirror up again, and thought the misting came a little more quickly. Presently Katie Carter and another woman came in, each carrying a warming pan.
    'Quiet, Kate,' said Mrs Pope reprovingly, as the pan clattered.
    'Sorry, mum. I was in some 'aste ...'
    The warming pans were slid under the sheets at the feet of Mr Clement Pope. Dwight took out a jar and put a leech on each of the man's wrists. Unlike most of his profession, he was disenchanted with the practice of bleeding, but this was a case where it might ease the pressure of bipod to the heart.
    Mrs Pope said to the other servant: 'Pray see that Miss Pope and Miss Maud are sent for immediately.'
    "S, mum.'
    The women went out. It occurred to Dwight to wonder whether Mrs Selina Pope always supped in this elegant deshabille. It was not his business to inquire. It was not even his business to ask whether Mr Clement Pope had altogether obeyed his instructions to lead a quiet, regular and celibate life.
    'You will stay, Dr Enys?' Mrs Pope said, looking at him from under damp lashes.
    'For the time, certainly. Until he regains consciousness or — there is some other change.'
     
    'Can I - get you something to drink? The maids will .. 'No, thank you.'
    Time passes quickly or slowly when waiting, according to how occupied or preoccupied the mind is that waits; so Dwight never knew, perhaps Selina Pope never knew, how long they sat'there, Dwight on a chair by the bed, Mrs Pope on an early Georgian window seat upholstered in yellow silk.
    Dwight thought of his own two daughters, growing away now. Sophie eleven, Meliora nearly ten. Four years after the tragedy of Sarah's death Caroline had found herself pregnant again and had produced these two girls in quite rapid succession. As if