er eyes
in every possible way. There is nothing whatever for you girls to get
anxious or frightened about. I have seen this sort of thing before,
though usually in the East."

The old man dismissed the maids, and went into the drawing-room, while
I spent a few moments with Myra. I was delighted to see the General
taking it so well, as I had even been afraid of his total collapse, so
I took what comfort I could from his ready assurance that he was quite
accustomed to that sort of thing. But when, some twenty minutes later,
I went to look for him in the drawing-room, and found him prostrate on
the sofa, his head buried in his arms, I realised whence Myra had
derived her pluck. He looked up as he heard the door open, and tears
were streaming down his rugged old face.

"Never mind me, Ronald," he said brokenly. "Never mind me. I shall be
all right in a minute. I--I didn't expect this, but I shall be all
right in a minute." I closed the door softly and left him alone.

I found Angus had harnessed the pony, and was just about to start for
Glenelg to fetch Doctor Whitehouse. So I told him to tell the General
that I should be better able to explain to the doctor what had
happened, and, glad of the diversion, I drove in for him myself. But
when he arrived he made a long and searching examination, patted
Myra's head, and told her the nerve had been strained by the glare on
the water, and rest was all that was needed; and, as soon as he got
outside her door, he sighed and shook his head. In the library he made
no bones about it, and her father and I were both grateful to him.

"It's not a bit of use my saying I know when I don't," the doctor
declared emphatically. "I'm puzzled--indeed, I'm absolutely beaten.
This is a thing I've not only never come across before, but I've never
even read about it. This green flash, the suddenness of it, the
absence of pain--she says she feels perfectly well. She could see
wonderfully well up to the second it happened; no warning headaches,
and nothing whatever to account for it. I have known a sudden shock to
the system produce instantaneous blindness, such as a man in a very
heated state diving into ice-cold water. But in this case there is
nothing to go by. I can only do her harm by pretending to know what I
don't know, and you know as much as I do. She must see a specialist,
and the sooner the better. I would recommend Sir Gaire Olvery; that
would mean taking her up to London. Mr. Herbert G