Tawny Hudson, subdued and
wretched, with him.

In the evening he returned, the man still following him like a pariah
dog, to find the situation unaltered. Capper and Nap were still with
Lucas, whose life hung by a thread.

Bertie decided to remain for the night, and at a late hour he saw Capper
for a moment. The great man's face was drawn and haggard.

"He won't last through the night," he said. "Tell the ladies to be in
readiness. I will send for them if there is time."

"No hope whatever?" said Bertie.

Capper shook his head. "I fear--none. He is just running down--sinking. I
think you had better not come in, but stay within call."

He was gone again, and Bertie was left to give his message, and then to
wait in anguish of spirit for the final call.

The night was still. Only the draught from the wide-flung doors and
windows stirred through the quiet rooms. Mrs. Errol and Anne shared
Bertie's vigil in the room that opened out of that in which Lucas Errol
was making his last stand. Humbly, in a corner, huddled Tawny Hudson,
rocking himself, but making no sound.

Within the room Capper sat at the foot of the bed, motionless, alert as
a sentry. A nurse stood like a statue, holding back the bellying
window-curtain. And on his knees beside the bed, the inert wrists gripped
close in his sinewy fingers, was Nap.

The light of a shaded lamp shone upon his dusky face, showing the gleam
of his watchful eyes, the crude lines of jaw and cheek-bone. He looked
like a figure carved in bronze.

For hours he had knelt so in unceasing vigilance, gazing unblinking
and tireless at the exhausted face upon the pillow. It might have been
the face of a dead man upon which he gazed, but the pulses that
fluttered in his hold told him otherwise. Lucas still held feebly,
feebly, to his chain.

It was nearly an hour after midnight that a voice spoke in the
utter silence.

"Boney!"

"I'm here, old chap."

"Good-bye, dear fellow!" It was scarcely more than a whisper. It seemed
to come from closed lips.

"Open your eyes," said Nap.

Slowly the heavy lids opened. The blue eyes met the deep, mysterious gaze
focussed upon them.

Silent as a ghost Capper glided forward. The nurse left the window, and
the curtain floated out into the room, fluttering like an imprisoned
thing seeking to escape.

"Ah, but, Boney--" the tired voice said, as though in protest.

And Nap's voice, thrilled through and through with a tenderness that was