68 DOGGED JACK.

during all this time Jack's feelings may be more
easily understood than described.
 Often, in the dark lonely hours of the night, would
 the boy rise from his sleepless bed and steal to the
 door of the room where Sally lay tossing about in
 that restless fever, and talking incessantly.
 Nobody knew when Jack was near, for he felt too
 miserable to bear even the words of pity that would
 have been given him by the servants who took it
 in turn to watch Sally.
 As for his father, Jack scarcely ever saw him;
and when he did, his father never addressed him or
took the smallest notice of him in any way.
 On the morning after Sally's seizure, Mr. Gilbert
had sent nurse to tell Jack that he was to have all
his meals in his own room, and was forbidden to
enter any of the sitting rooms. He was told, however,
that he was to attend Mr. Lane's instructions as
usual, and that he was free to go out of the house
whenever he wished.
 But although Jack could see that his father had
never been so angry with him as he was now, and
although all late kind feelings were at an end, and
the estrangement was worse than ever between them,
yet Jack was so intensely miserable on Sally's ac-
count, that even his father's displeasure was almost
unfelt.