away, she was
asleep....

Max turned at last from the bed, nodded briefly to the nurse, and went
as silently as a shadow from the room.

Another shadow waited for him on the threshold, and in the light of the
passage outside the room they stood face to face.

"She will live," said Max curtly.

"And--" said Nick. He was blinking very rapidly as one dazzled.

"Yes; her reason is coming back. She knew me just now."

"Knew you!"

Max nodded without speaking.

Nick turned his yellow face for a moment towards the open window on the
stairs. His lips twitched a little. He said no word.

Max leaned against the wall, and passed his handkerchief over his
forehead. Sharp as a ferret, Nick turned.

"Come downstairs, old chap! You've been working like a nigger for the
past fortnight. You'll knock up if you are not careful."

Max went with him in silence.

At the foot of the stairs he spoke again. "I shall hand her over to Dr.
Jim now. She will do better with him than with me as she gets more
sensible."

And so a new presence came into Olga's room, and the figure of her dread
appeared no more before her waking eyes. Not at first did she realize
the change, for it was only fitfully that her brain could register any
definite impression. But one day when strong hands lifted her, something
of familiarity in the touch caught her wavering intelligence. She
looked up and saw a rugged face she knew.

"Dad!" she said incredulously.

"Of course!" said Dr. Jim bluntly. "Only just found that out?"

She made a feeble attempt to cling to him, smiling a welcome through
tears. "Oh, Dad, where have you been?"

"I?" said Dr. Jim. "Why, here to be sure, for the past week. Now we
won't have any talking. You shut your eyes like a sensible young woman
and go to sleep!"

He had always exacted obedience from her. She obeyed him now. "But you
won't go away again?" she pleaded.

"Certainly not," he said, and took her hand into his own.

The last thing she knew was the steady pressure of his fingers on her
pulse.

From that time her strength began very slowly to return. The suffering
grew less and less intense, till at last it visited her only when she
tried to think. And this she was sternly forbidden to do by Dr. Jim,
whose word was law.

She was like a little child in those days, conscious only of the passing
moment, although even then at the back of her mind she was aware of a
monstrous shadow that was never wholly absent day