aving gallantly kept on her feet until the supreme need was
past, she had the less strength left with which to fight the enemy.

"Don't tell Jean. Promise not to tell Jean!" That was her first and
most insistent cry; and being satisfied on the point, she laid herself
down, and spoke no more for many weary days and nights.

Once again Vanna found herself bound to the household, and had the
consolation or feeling of help to the mistress and of comfort to the
invalid, who seemed to cling pathetically to Jean's friend in the
absence of her own dear nursling.

Hospital nurses were much rarer luxuries in the seventies than at the
present day, and in this case the duty of nursing the invalid was
undertaken by Mrs Goring, her maid, and Vanna, equally. The maid slept
in the sick-room, ready to pay any attention which was required during
the night; Mrs Goring was exact and punctilious in administering
medicines and food at the right intervals, and in seeing that the
sick-room was kept scrupulously in order; it devolved upon Vanna to ease
the invalid by the innumerable, gentle little offices which seem to come
by instinct to women of sympathetic natures, and later on as she grew
stronger, to amuse her by reading aloud, talking, and--what in this case
was even more welcome--lending an attentive ear while the other
discoursed.

The sudden breakdown had called attention to the state of Miggles's
heart, which had troubled her at times for some years back. The result
was serious, so serious that the doctor had warned her that her days of
active service were over. Henceforth she must be content to live an
idle life, in some quiet country spot, where she would be free from the
bustle and excitement of town life. Mr and Mrs Goring proposed that
she should live in the Cottage at Seacliff, where the capable woman who
acted as caretaker could wait upon her and do the work of the house, and
Miggles, as usual, was full of gratitude for the suggestion.

"A haven, my dear, opened out to me at the very moment I need it," she
said ardently to Vanna. "It's been like that with me all my life.
Goodness and mercy! I've always loved that dear little house by the
sea; there's no place on earth where I would rather end my days. The
doctor says I shall go off quite suddenly. He didn't want to tell me,
but I explained that I was not at all afraid. From battle, murder, and
_lingering_ death, that's the way I've always said it--not that I wish