Guy laughed again. He was in the wildest spirits. But suddenly in
the midst of his mirth he began to cough with a dry, harsh sound
like the rending of wood. He pushed his chair back from the table,
and bent himself double, seeming to grope upon the floor. It was
the most terrible paroxysm that Sylvia had ever witnessed, and she
thought it would never end.

Several times he tried to straighten himself, but each effort
seemed to renew the anguish that tore him, and in the end he
subsided limply against Burke who supported him till at last the
convulsive choking ceased.

He was completely exhausted by that time and offered no
remonstrance when Burke and Kelly between them bore him to the
former's room and laid him on the bed he had occupied for so long.
Burke administered brandy again; there was no help for it. And
then at Guy's whispered request he left him for a space to recover.

He drew Sylvia out of the room, and Kelly followed. "I'll go back
to him later, and help him undress," he said. "But he will
probably get on better alone for the present."

"What has been happening?" Sylvia asked him. "Tell me what has
been happening!"

A fevered desire to know everything was upon her. She felt she
must know.

Burke looked at her as if something in her eagerness struck him as