bedside, and looked down at her patient
with an expression of mingled anxiety and relief.

"Ah, you look better! You have had a deep. You will be ready for some
food--"

"My baby--I want my baby! Why is it not in the room?"

"You have been too ill. We had to keep you quiet. You are getting on
nicely now, but you must still be careful. Be good now, and drink this
milk, and try to sleep again."

"Is it a girl or a boy?"

"A boy."

"Oh!" Jean's voice thrilled with joy. "I knew it. I knew it. I
_said_ it could not be a girl. A boy--a son! Oh, bring him to me,
nurse; bring him! I can't wait a moment longer."

"You have waited four days; you can wait a few more minutes. Drink your
milk, and I will call your husband. Poor man, he has been so wretched!
You would like to see him _first_."

Nurse was masterful, and Jean was weak. She swallowed the milk, and
impatiently waited for Robert's arrival, hugging the thought of the
burden in his arms. Surely he would bring him to her--the hard-won
treasure, the tiny, precious son for whose sake she had gone down to the
gates of death!

The door opened, and Robert entered. His face was drawn and aged, his
hazel eyes haggard with suffering; but for once Jean had no thought for
him--her eyes saw only his empty arms.

"Where is he?"

Robert went down on his knees by the bedside.

"Jean, darling, speak to me! I have been hungering all these days...
Thank God you are better. Oh, Jean, nothing matters in all the world if
I have you."

Jean smiled, and her fingers feebly returned his caress.

"Poor lad! poor lad! You have suffered, too, but he will comfort us.
Bring him to me! put him here, between us on the bed. Let us look at
him together."

"Jean, sweetheart! We have been happy together; sufficient for each
other all these months. Am I not more to thee than ten sons?"

Then in a flash fear dawned on Jean's heart; her great eyes widened, her
lips fell apart.

"My baby! Don't torture me. Where is my baby?"

"With God," said Robert softly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The nurse had cleared away the tea things. After a due interval she had
returned to the room, and been relieved to find the patient lying
quietly on her pillow. Mr Gloucester sitting by her side looked more
agitated and distressed than she did. His face wore the pitiful,
baffled expression of a child whose overtures have been rejec