? ? ? ? " ' "Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy fellow rather roughly," said the dad, turning to me.
? ? ? ? " ' "On the contrary, I think that we have both shown extraordinary patience towards him," I answered.
? ? ? ? " ' "Oh, you do, do you?" he snarled. "Very good, mate. We'll see about that!"
? ? ? ? " 'He slouched out of the room and half an hour afterwards left the house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness. Night after night I heard him pacing his room, and it was just as he was recovering his confidence that the blow did at last fall.'
? ? ? ? " 'And how?' I asked eagerly.
? ? ? ? " 'In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my father yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingham postmark. My father read it, clapped both his hands to his head, and began running round the room in little circles like a man who has been driven out of his senses. When I at last drew him down on to the sofa, his mouth and eyelids were all puckered on one side, and I saw that he had a stroke. Dr. Fordham came over at once. We put him to bed, but the paralysis has spread, he has shown no sign of returning consciousness, and I think that we shall hardly find him alive.
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