Such assistance was fatal to her own concealment; but even had the chance of benefiting him been less than it was, she would have run the hazard for his sake.

The question was, where should she get a medical man, competent and near?
There was one such man, and only one, within accessible distance; a man who, if it were possible to save Winterborne's life, had the brain most likely to do it.

If human pressure could bring him, that man ought to be brought to the sick Giles's side.

The attempt should be made.
Yet she dreaded to leave her patient, and the minutes raced past, and yet she postponed her departure.

At last, when it was after eleven o'clock, Winterborne fell into a fitful sleep, and it seemed to afford her an opportunity.
She hastily made him as comfortable as she could, put on her things, cut a new candle from the bunch hanging in the cupboard, and having set it up, and placed it so that the light did not fall upon his eyes, she closed the door and started.
The spirit of Winterborne seemed to keep her company and banish all sense of darkness from her mind.