In the evening, before going home, Abraham had a bath. He was not a
nervous man, but the possibilities of the risk he had run were not
agreeable to contemplate. Two or three days went by without any
alarming symptoms, but as he learnt that another case of small-pox
had declared itself in the Lane, he postponed his personal activity
there for the present, and remained a good deal at home. On the
Sunday morning--when Waymark's letter had already been posted--
he awoke with a headache, continued from the night before. It grew
worse during the day, and he went to bed early with a dull pain
across the forehead, which prevented him from sleeping. On the
following morning the headache still remained; he felt a
disinclination to rise, and now, for the first time, began to be
troubled with vague fears, which blended themselves with his various
pre-occupations in a confusing way. The letter which arrived from
Waymark was taken up to him. It caused him extreme irritation, which
was followed by uneasy dozing, the pain across his forehead growing
worse the while. A doctor was summoned.
The same day Ida and Miss Hurst left the house, to occupy lodgings
hard by; it was done at Mr.
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