your awantage, an' if you won't fork
out the Queen o' the Jokes is mum.'

I stood and looked at her--looked till the street seemed to heave
under my feet and the houses to rock. After this I seem to have
wandered back to Wilderspin's studio, and there to have sunk down
unconscious.

XII

THE REVOLVING CAGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE

I

I will not trouble the reader with details of the illness that came
upon me as the result of my mental agony and physical exhaustion. At
intervals I was aware of what was going on around me, but for the
most part I was in a semi-comatose state. I realised at intervals
that a medical man was sitting by my side, as I lay in bed. Then I
had a sense of being moved from place to place; and then of being
rocked by the waves. Slowly the periods of consciousness became more
frequent and also more prolonged.

My first exclamation was--'Dead! Have I been ill?' and I tried to
raise myself in vain.

'Yes, very ill,' said a voice, my mother's.

'Dangerously?'

'For several days you were in danger. Your recovery now entirely
depends upon your keeping yourself calm.'

'I am out at sea?'

'Yes,' said my mother; 'in Lord Sleaford's yacht.'

'How did I come here?'

'Well, Henry, I was so anxious to wait for a day or two to learn the
sequel of the dreadful tragedy, that I persuaded Lord Sleaford to
delay sailing. Next day he called at Belgrave Square, and told us he
had heard that you had been taken suddenly ill and were lying
unconscious at the studio. I went at once and saw the medical man,
Mr. Finch, whom Mr. Wilderspin had called in. This gentleman took a
serious view of your case. When I asked him what could be done he
said that nothing would benefit you so much as removal from London,
and recommended a sea voyage. It occurred to me at once to ask Lord
Sleaford if we might take you in his yacht, and he with his usual
good-nature agreed, and agreed also that Mr. Finch should accompany
us as your medical attendant.'

'You know all?' I said; 'you know that she is dead.'

'Alas! yes.'

At that moment the doctor came into the cabin, and my mother retired.

'When did you last see Wilderspin?' I asked Mr. Finch.

'Before leaving England to join a friend in Paris he went to Belgrave
Square to get tidings of you, and I was there.'

'He told you--what had occurred to make me ill?'

'He told me that it was the death of some one in whom you took an
interest, a model of his, but told it