CHAPTER XI.
A month later Mrs.Temple wrote to John warning him of the state in which Constance now found herself, and begging him to return at least for a few weeks in order that he might be present at the time of her confinement.

Though it would have been in the last degree unkind, or even inhuman, that a request of this sort should have been refused, yet I will confess to you that my brother's recent strangeness had prepared me for behaviour on his part however wild; and it was with a feeling of extreme relief that I heard from Mrs.Temple a little later that she had received a short note from John to say that he was already on his return journey.

I believe Mrs.Temple herself felt as I did in the matter, though she said nothing.
When he returned we were all at Royston, whither Mrs.Temple had taken Constance to be under Dr.Dobie's care.

We found John's physical appearance changed for the worse.

His pallor was as remarkable as before, but he was visibly thinner; and his strange mental abstraction and moodiness seemed little if any abated.