ld have no
least cause of anger against Gaynor.

"It was hard to get Gaynor to say anything, Cecil. He is so loyal. Only
when the doctor had told me everything, did he so much as admit, even by
a look, that there was--was anything of this kind. I had to press him
hard, Cecil, for the barest facts. It was evidently real suffering for
him to answer me. He had to answer me, you know. His very affection for
you made him do that, when--when he saw how much I wanted to help you,
too--that I was not--judging."

Chesney smiled rather drily, closing his eyes. "I see that your feeling
towards Gaynor has suffered a 'sea change,'" he said. "There's something
'rare and strange' about it now."

"No, Cecil," she said warmly. "How could it be strange that I feel
grateful and appreciative towards a man who has been so faithful to
you?"

"'_Il y a des fagots et des fagots_,'" he murmured languidly. "There is
one glory of the moon of faithfulness and another of the sun."

"How do you mean, Cecil?" She felt suddenly very anxious.

"Oh, nothing. Merely that you and Gaynor are the sun and moon in the
heavens of loyalty."

"I'm glad that you're not vexed with the poor fellow because--because he
didn't lie," she ventured gently.

"Oh, no ... no ..." he moved his hand, dismissing the subject.
"'Faithful are the wounds of a friend.'"

Something in his tone still made her anxious, but his face was so placid
that she took comfort from it. She waited a moment, then said:

"Do you mean, dear, that you will let us make a ... a regime for you, on
the lines that ... that were suggested?"

"Why--what else?" said Chesney, with a sort of indulgent loftiness. "My
admission could hardly have been worth while otherwise--could it?"

"No--that's true," she said joyfully. "Oh, Cecil!" She sat looking at
him through tears of gratitude. She could not keep these tears from
starting, but she managed to hold them within her eyelids.

"There, there!" he said nervously. "You're a dear thing--but don't make
a fuss."

"Oh, no-- I won't indeed. I feel so quiet--so happy."

She paused, gathering composure.

"And ... in case the ... the constant care will be more than Gaynor and
I can do properly ... you'll let me engage a nurse--won't you!"

That dark wave rose again. Again he surmounted it, thinking in those
lightning bright and quick flashes. If he objected it would look odd.
Besides he had not accomplished all that he desired. He wished it firmly