The Star-Gazers Part 27

"_Salmy of poulay ho sham pinions_, sir," said Morris, politely; and he picked a _menu_ from the table and laid it before the captain, who refixed the gla.s.s in his eye and glared at the card.

"Do you mean to say that the hashed chicken and the other dish was made up with those con--those toadstools that were--were in that basket?"

"Yes, sir, the basket Major Day brought in, sir," said Morris.

Sir John chuckled. The major burst into a regular roar.

"Are--are you sure, Morris?" gasped Rolph, turning a sickly yellow.

"Yes, sir; quite sure."

"My dear fellow," cried the major, wiping his eyes, "what is the matter?"

"I've--I've eaten a great many of them," panted Rolph.

"Well, so we all have, and delicious they were. Why, hang it, man, they won't poison you."

"Don't!" gasped Rolph, with a wild look in his eyes; and, clutching at the decanter, he poured a quant.i.ty of sherry into a tumbler and gulped it down.

"I say, Rob, are you ill?" said Sir John, kindly.

"Yes--no--I don't know," gasped the captain, gazing wildly from one to the other, in search of a fresh victim to the poison.

"Would you like to leave the table?" said Sir John. "Here, Morris, give Captain Rolph a liqueur of brandy."

The butler hurriedly filled a wine gla.s.s, and the captain tossed it off as if it had been water, gazing dizzily round at the anxious faces at the table.

"Do you feel very bad, Robert?" said Glynne, rising and going round to his side to speak with great sympathy, as she softly laid her hand upon his broad shoulder.

"Horribly," whispered the captain, who was fast losing his nerve.

"Don't you?"

"I? No. I am quite well."

"It was those cursed toadstools," cried Rolph, savagely.

"Nonsense, my dear sir," said the major, firmly. "We have all eaten them, and they were delicious."

"Give me your arm, some one," groaned Rolph, rising from his chair; and the major caught him, and helped him from the room, Alleyne and Sir John following, after begging Lucy and Glynne to remain seated.

"Send for a doctor--quick--I'm poisoned," said Rolph--"quick!"

"Here, send to the town," cried Sir John. "Let a groom gallop over.

No; there's Mr Oldroyd in the village. Here, you, James, run across the park, you'll be there in ten minutes."

"Telegraph--physician," gasped Rolph.

"Poor fellow! He seems bad."

"I think," said Alleyne, quietly, "that a good deal of it is nervous dread."

Rolph looked daggers at him, and then closed his eyes and groaned, as he lay back on a sofa in the library.

"Have--have you telegraphed--sent a telegram?" said Rolph, after lying back with his eyes closed for a few minutes.

"I have sent for Mr Oldroyd," said Sir John, "and we will go by his advice. It would take a man half an hour to gallop to the station. We shall have the doctor here long before that."

Rolph looked round, partly for help, partly to see who was to be the next man attacked, and then closed his eyes, and lay breathing heavily.

"I wish you wouldn't bring in those confounded--eh? Who's there?" said Sir John. "Oh, you, my dear. No, you can't do any good. Go and talk to Miss Alleyne. Fit of indigestion coming on the top of a lot of physical exertion--training and that sort of thing. He'll be better soon."

Glynne, who had come to the door, closed it and went away, while Rolph uttered a groan.

"I was saying," continued Sir John, "I wish you wouldn't bring those confounded things into the house. You will be poisoning us some day."

"What nonsense, Jack!" cried the major. "I tell you the fungi were perfectly good. You ate some of them yourself. How do you feel?"

"Oh, I'm all right."

"So is Mr Alleyne; so are the girls; so am I. It is not the mushrooms, I'm sure. More likely your wine. We are all as well as can be."

"Attack you suddenly," groaned Rolph, piteously.

"Ah, well if it does," said the major, "I won't make such a fuss over it. Why, when we had the cholera among us at Darjeebad, the men did not make more trouble."

Rolph squeezed his eyes together very closely, and bit his lips, wishing mentally that a fit would seize the major, while he upbraided Fortune for playing him such a prank as this; and then he lay tolerably still, waiting for nearly half an hour, during which notes were compared by the others, one and all of whom declared that they never felt better.

Glynne came twice to ask if she could be of any service, and to say that Lucy was eager to help; and then there were steps in the hall, and, directly after, Oldroyd was shown in, looking perfectly cool and business-like, in spite of his hurried scamper across the park.

"Your man says that Captain Rolph has been poisoned by eating bad mushrooms," said the young doctor. "Is this so?"

"He has had some of the same dish as all the rest," said Sir John; "and my brother declares they were perfectly safe."

"Humph!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Oldroyd, who had seated himself by his patient, and was questioning and examining him.

"Better get him to bed," he said, after a pause; "and, while he is undressing, I will run home and get him something."

He started directly, and was back just as Rolph sank upon his pillow.

"There, sir, drink that," said Oldroyd, in a quiet decisive tone; and, after displaying a disposition to refuse, the young officer drank what was offered to him, and soon after sank into a heavy sleep.

"I'll come back about twelve, Sir John," said the doctor. "I don't think he will be any worse. In fact, I believe he'll be all right in the morning."

"But what is it?" said Sir John, in a whisper. "If it is the mushrooms, why are we not all ill?"

"Well, as far as I can make out," said Oldroyd, "there is nothing the matter with him but a nervous fit, and an indication of too much stimulant. It seems to me that he has frightened himself into the belief that he has been poisoned. But I'll come in again about twelve."

"No, no; pray stay, Mr Oldroyd," cried Sir John. "Come down into the drawing-room, and have a cup of tea and a chat. You don't think we need telegraph for further advice?"

"Really, Sir John, I fail to see why you should," said Oldroyd. "Your friend is certainly, as far as my knowledge goes, not seriously ill."