The moment we were alone Eveena said-- "I have never seen illness, but if Eunane is not ill, and very ill, all I have gathered in my father's household from such books as he has allowed me, and from his own conversation, deceives me wholly; and yet no illness of which I have ever heard in the slightest degree resembles this." "I take it to be," I said, "what on Earth women call hysteria and men temper." To this opinion, however, I could not adhere when, watching her closely, I noticed the evident lack of spirit and strength with which the most active and energetic member of the household went about her usual pursuits.

A terrible suspicion at first entered my mind, but was wholly discountenanced by Eveena, who insisted that there was no conceivable motive for an attempt to injure Eunane; while the idea that mischief designed for others had unintentionally fallen on her was excluded by the certainty that, whatever the nature of her illness, if it were such, it had commenced before our return.

Long before evening I had communicated with Esmo, and received from him a reply which, though exceedingly unsatisfactory, rather confirmed Eveena's impression.

The latter had taken upon herself the care of the evening meal; but, before we could meet there, my own observation had suggested an alarm I dared not communicate to her--one which a wider experience than hers could neither verify nor dispel.

Among symptoms wholly alien, there were one or two which sent a thrill of terror to my heart;--which reminded me of the most awful and destructive of the scourges wherewith my Eastern life had rendered me but too familiar.
It was not unnatural that, if carried to a new world, that fearful disease should assume a new form; but how could it have been conveyed?
how, if conveyed, could its incubation in some unknown vehicle have been so long?
and how had it reached one, and one only, of my household--one, moreover, who had no access to such few relics of my own world as I had retained, of which Eveena had the exclusive charge?
All Esmo's knowledge, even were he within reach, could hardly help me here.