Presently the horrible sense subsided as
before, and again he sought to descend the stair and go to Kelpie.
But immediately the sickness returned, and all he could do after
a long and vain struggle, was to crawl on hands and knees up the
stairs and back to his room. There he crept upon his bed, and was
feebly committing Kelpie to the care of her maker, when consciousness
forsook him.
It returned, heralded by frightful pains all over his body, which
by and by subsiding, he sank again to the bottom of the black Lethe.
Meantime Kelpie had got so wildly uproarious that Merton tossed her
half a truss of hay, which she attacked like an enemy, and ran to
the house to get somebody to call Malcolm. After what seemed endless
delay, the door was opened by his admirer, the scullery maid, who,
as soon as she heard what was the matter, hastened to his room.
CHAPTER XLIX: THE PHILTRE
Before he again came to himself, Malcolm had a dream, which, although
very confused, was in parts more vivid than any he had ever had.
His surroundings in it were those in which he actually lay, and he
was ill, but he thought it the one illness he had before. His head
ached, and he could rest in no position he tried. Suddenly he heard
a step he knew better than any other approaching the door of his
chamber: it opened, and his grandfather in great agitation entered,
not following his hands, however, in the fashion usual to blindness,
but carrying himself like any sight gifted man.
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