r London hung a misty pall, and not a branch of the
dusty trees quivered to the movement of a passing breeze. It was a
thunderous, unnatural heat which sapped every scrap of vitality, and
made every movement a dread.

Claire was horrified at the effect of this heat wave on Sophie Blake.
In superficial fashion she had always believed that rheumatism must be
better in hot weather; but, according to the specialist, such heat as
this was more trying than damp or cold, and Sophie's stiffness increased
with alarming suddenness.

There came a day when by no effort of will could she get through her
classes, when sheer necessity drove her to do the thing she had dreaded
most of all--inform the Head that she could not go on with her work.

Miss Farnborough was seated in her private room, and listened with grave
attention to what the Games mistress had to say. Her forehead puckered
in surprise as she noted Sophie's halting gait, and the while she
listened, her keen brain was diving back into the past, collecting
impressions. She had seen less than usual of Miss Blake during the
term; once or twice she had received the impression that Miss Blake
avoided her approach; Miss Blake had been looking pale. She waited
until Sophie had finished speaking, her hands folded on her knee, her
penetrating eye fixed on the girl's face. Then she spoke--

"I am sorry to hear this, Miss Blake. Your work has been excellent
hitherto, but rheumatism is a serious handicap. You say that this heat
is responsible for the present attack? Am I to understand that it is a
first attack--that you have had no threatening before?"

"I have been rheumatic all winter, more or less. Before the Easter
holidays it was pretty bad. I began to feel stiff."

Miss Farnborough repeated the word gravely.

"Stiff! That was bad; that was very bad! How could you take your
classes if you were feeling stiff?"

"I managed somehow!" Sophie said.

For a moment she had imagined that the Head Mistress's concern had been
on her account; she believed it no longer when she saw the flash of
indignation which lighted the grey eyes.

"Managed--_somehow_? And you went on in that fashion--you were content
to go on!"

"No. I was not content. I was very far from content. I suffered
horrible pain. I went to a specialist and paid him two guineas for his
advice. Since then I have paid twenty pounds for treatment."

On Miss Farnborough's face the disapproval grew mor