The man paid no attention, but passed through the circle of light
to the patient, gave him a drink, and turned. Martine stared with
the paralysis of one looking upon an apparition.
When the figure was opposite to him, he again ejaculated hoarsely,
"Captain Nichol!"
The form in slippers and gray ghostly dressing-gown turned sleepy
eyes upon him without the slightest sign of recognition, passed
on, and disappeared among the shadows near the wardmaster's room.
A blending of relief and fearful doubt agitated Martine. He knew
he had been wide awake and in the possession of every faculty--
that his imagination had been playing him no tricks. He was not
even thinking of Nichol at the time; yet the impression that he
had looked upon and spoken to his old schoolmate, to Helen's dead
lover, had been as strong as it was instantaneous. When the man
had turned, there had been an unnatural expression, which in a
measure dispelled the illusion. After a moment of thought which
scorched his brain, he rose and followed the man's steps, and was
in time to see him rolling himself in his blanket on the cot
nearest the door.
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