About noon I was wakened as usual for dinner, and as usual refused to eat, and was given a dram with some bitter infusion which the barber had prescribed.

The sun was shining in at the open door of the Cage, and this dazzled and offended me.

Cluny sat at the table, biting the pack of cards.

Alan had stooped over the bed, and had his face close to my eyes; to which, troubled as they were with the fever, it seemed of the most shocking bigness.
He asked me for a loan of my money.
"What for ?" said I.
"O, just for a loan," said he.
"But why ?" I repeated.

"I don't see." "Hut, David!" said Alan, "ye wouldnae grudge me a loan ?" I would, though, if I had had my senses! But all I thought of then was to get his face away, and I handed him my money.
On the morning of the third day, when we had been forty-eight hours in the Cage, I awoke with a great relief of spirits, very weak and weary indeed, but seeing things of the right size and with their honest, everyday appearance.