On
reaching Leo's room we found the poor boy in a very bad way. He had woke
up from his torpor, and was altogether off his head, babbling about some
boat-race on the Cam, and was inclined to be violent. Indeed, when we
entered the room Ustane was holding him down. I spoke to him, and my
voice seemed to soothe him; at any rate he grew much quieter, and was
persuaded to swallow a dose of quinine.
I had been sitting with him for an hour, perhaps--at any rate I know
that it was getting so dark that I could only just make out his head
lying like a gleam of gold upon the pillow we had extemporised out of a
bag covered with a blanket--when suddenly Billali arrived with an air
of great importance, and informed me that _She_ herself had deigned to
express a wish to see me--an honour, he added, accorded to but very
few. I think that he was a little horrified at my cool way of taking the
honour, but the fact was that I did not feel overwhelmed with gratitude
at the prospect of seeing some savage, dusky queen, however absolute
and mysterious she might be, more especially as my mind was full of
dear Leo, for whose life I began to have great fears.
Pages:
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266