His firm hand held me as gently as ever in my place.
"You must rest a little," he said.

"You must take some wine.

If you exert yourself now you will faint again." Old Benjamin stooped over me, and whispered a word of explanation.
"It's the doctor, my dear.

You must do as he tells you." The doctor! They had called the doctor in to help them! I began dimly to understand that my fainting fit must have presented symptoms far more serious than the fainting fits of women in general.

I appealed to the doctor, in a helpless, querulous way, to account to me for my husband's extraordinary absence.
"Why did you let him leave the room ?" I asked.