It will spoil the poor boy's sleep for one
night, that is all. Go to him the first thing in the morning."
About midnight Alfred was seized with a violent headache and fever:
towards morning he was light-headed, and Brown found him loud and
incoherent: only he returned often to an expression Mr. Brown had never
heard before--
"Justifiable parricide. Justifiable parricide. Justifiable patricide."
Most people dislike new phrases. Brown ran to consult Mrs. Archbold about
this one. After the delay inseparable from her sex, she came in a morning
wrapper; and they found Alfred leaning over the bed and bleeding
violently at the nose. They were a good deal alarmed, and tried to stop
it: but Alfred was quite sensible now, and told them it was doing him
good.
"I can manage to see now," he said; "a little while ago I was blind with
the poison."
They unstrapped his ankle and made him comfortable, and Mrs. Archbold
sent Brown for a cup of strong coffee and a glass of brandy. He tossed
them off; and soon after fell into a deep sleep that lasted till
tea-time. This sleep the poor doctor ascribed to the sedative effect of
his opiate.
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