He raised her eyelid and looked at her eye; he pricked her on
the arm and wrist; and then he turned to Julius.
"Julius," said he, "what does this mean?"
"It means," answered Julius, covering his face with his hands, "that I
am of all living things the most accurst!" Then with a cry of horror and
anguish he fled from the room and down the stairs.
Lady Lefevre followed him in a flutter of fear. Presently she returned,
and said, in answer to a look from her son, "He snatched his hat and
coat, and was gone before I came up with him."
Without a word Lefevre set himself to recover his sister, and in half an
hour she was well enough to walk with Lady Mary's assistance to bed.
The guests, meanwhile, had departed, all but two or three intimates; and
in less than an hour Dr Lefevre was returning home in the Fane carriage.
Lord Rivercourt and he talked of the strange events of the evening,
while Lady Mary leaned back and half-absently listened. They were
proceeding thus along Piccadilly, when she suddenly caught the doctor's
arm and exclaimed--
"Oh! Look! The very man I met in the Park! I am sure of it! I can never
forget the face!"
Lefevre, alert on the instant, looked to recognise Hernando Courtney,
the Man of the Crowd: he saw only the back of a person in a loose cape
and a slouch hat turning in at the gateway of the Albany courtyard.
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