strong medicine you use--that Indian
medicine?"

"Yes, madam."

"Don't you think that might have thrown him into this state?"

"I think not, madam."

Sophy was silent for another moment, looking down at her ringless hands
which she had clasped tightly together again. Then she looked up at
Gaynor. His face was as noncommittal as that of a diplomatist
negotiating a difficult matter. Yet she saw knowledge in that face, a
possession of facts that was hidden from her.

"What sort of doctor do you think should be called in? A specialist?"

"That would seem best, madam."

"What kind of specialist?"

"A nerve-specialist, I should think, madam."

Sophy continued to look at him curiously. At last she said:

"You know, Gaynor, if Mr. Chesney were to find out that you had proposed
this it would probably cost you your place!"

"That must be as it may be, madam."

"You are greatly attached to Mr. Chesney, are you not?"

"I have served Mr. Chesney for ten years, madam."

Gaynor's face was as impassive as ever. He was evidently not an
emotional character. Sophy looked down again at her knitted fingers;
then she said:

"Have you thought of any especial doctor?"

"Doctor Algernon Carfew is considered an excellent nerve-specialist,
madam. I believe he studied in the States with Doctor Weir Mitchell."

So Gaynor had thought very carefully and seriously on this subject, long
before the present moment!

Sophy gazed at him keenly again. What important knowledge lay locked in
that narrow chest, of which the key would not be given her, she felt
sure! And an unwilling conviction seized her: there must be something
fundamentally fine in Cecil to make a servant so loyal to him.

She leaned back wearily again on the cushions.

"I must think this over very carefully, Gaynor. It will be a very
serious matter to violate Mr. Chesney's wishes in this way."

"Yes, madam."

"How long do you think that we can safely wait before calling in a
physician?"

She coupled herself and Gaynor together unconsciously in this "we,"
because there was no one else in all England that she felt she could
consult with on this subject.

"There is no immediate danger, madam. I have given Mr. Chesney a
hypodermic of nitro-glycerine. Within the next two or three hours will
be time enough, I should say."

Somehow this word "hypodermic" frightened Sophy. She started erect
again, her hand grasping the back of the couch as before.

"Is that the st